Kneazles, Anyone?
by Aria327
Summary: DMHG. Draco and Hermione are paired up for a school project. Sparks fly and gauntlets are thrown. But who will have the last word? Please RR! COMPLETE!
1. A Few Llamas and a Git

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, creatures or places in this story. They all belong to J.K. Rowling. I do however own the plot.

_ A Few Llamas and a Git_

It was a particularly lazy day in late September, and everyone was sitting around the Gryffindor common room, finding various ways to amuse themselves. Ginny Weasley had just sat down in a squashy armchair by the fire, watching some first years make a foil farm, when her best girlfriend, sixth-year Hermione Granger, crashed through the Fat Lady's portrait hole, positively _seething_ with anger.

"Why?  Why?! FOR THE LOVE OF LLAMAS, WHY?!?!" Hermione screamed as she sank into the chair by Ginny.

Ginny, not used to such outbursts from the usually quiet brunette, asked, "Er…something bothering you, Hermione?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine. Just peachy!" Hermione said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ginny looked slightly taken aback but said, "Oh, ok then. Well if you're…"

 But her response was cut short by Hermione, who seemed to change her mind about her sarcastic ways, and decided to speak up. "I have to work with…with the most foul…the most!! ERGH! Grrr…"

Slightly scared but highly interested, Ginny asked, "Who do you have to work with?"

 "I have to work with…with the one person I truly hate!" Hermione struggled to spit out, her face flushed from having to think about it.

Ginny, trying to contain her frustration at Hermione's vagueness, asked in a quiet voice, "And who would that be?"

 "Please, kill me now. Seriously! I'd rather be murdered with a spoon then work with…that slimy, little GIT!" The prefect shouted with a wild look in her eyes. By this time, the whole common room had looked up from their business, and seemed to be waiting silently, holding their breath.

 Ginny sat very still, as if afraid any sudden movement may provoke Hermione further. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ginny, choosing her words carefully, said, "Look, Hermione, just tell me who it is," Then after a moment's contemplation, she added, "If you tell me who it is, then we can start making plans to make his life hell. Fred and George _are_ my brothers after all. I'm sure they can help us think of something brilliant." Hermione looked up to see a malicious glint in the redhead's eye. She reveled in the thought of this for a few seconds before she finally spit out one word,

"Malfoy."

Ginny seemed to be horrified at the very thought of this because she stood up rather quickly and shouted, "No!"

Hermione simply nodded, looking as if she was now emotionally drained. However, after a few minutes of silence, she finally spoke up and began her story. "Ok, well this whole nightmare started in Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class…"

1.1.1.1

"All righ' everyone, se'tle down," Hagrid said once all of the Gryffindors and, much to the trio's dismay, Slytherins had arrived. "Today we're goin' ter be startin' a little project." He gestured toward a small paddock behind them that held about twenty creatures that looked like a cross between a monkey and a frog.

"Ugh, what the bloody hell _are_ those things?" Ron hissed under his breath.

"They're Clabberts, Ron, and very interesting creatures actually," Hermione whispered back to her redheaded boyfriend. "And don't swear." At this lighthearted chastisement, Ron tried and failed miserably to look sulky, while Harry just stood nearby and sniggered.

Hermione allowed herself to let her mind stray for a few moments. Immediately, all of her thoughts collected on Ron. Well naturally, she was a sixteen-year-old girl, after all. She had just started thinking about the way Ron would absentmindedly toss the loose strands of hair from his face when he wasn't paying attention, much like he was doing now, when Hagrid's booming voice broke her reverie.

"Now, who can tell me summat abou' Clabberts?" To no one's surprise, Hermione's hand shot into the air. "'Ermione."

"Clabberts are tree-dwelling creatures that feed mostly on small lizards and birds. Their most distinctive feature is the large pustule in the middle of their forehead, which glows scarlet and flashes when it senses danger," Hermione answered promptly, looking more than slightly pleased with herself.

"Righ'! Ten points ter Gryffindor," Hagrid said, positively beaming at Hermione. "Ok, so back ter the project. Yeh'll be workin' with partners ter take care o' one o' 'em for four months!" At these words, a collective groan erupted from the class and they started to pair off for partners. "O an' I'll be assignin' yeh yer partners," Hagrid added as an afterthought.

"Righ', so we're gonna be mixin' things up a bit. Yeh'll be with opposite houses and genders. Partners are: Brown and Goyle, Patil and Zabini, Potter and Parkinson, Weasley and Bulstrode…" Hagrid went on until he finally got to the last pairing, "Granger and Malfoy."

At this, Ron loudly and very angrily said, "WHAT?! Hagrid! You can't let her work with him!"  He put a protective arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, "I won't allow it."

Hermione, who had been slightly dazed, snapped to attention at his words. "_Excuse_ me? You won't allow it? I'll have you know, Ronald Weasley, that you are not the boss of me and I can work with anyone I want to," she said acidly. Ron, taken aback, simply said, "But 'Mione, it's not just anyone. It's _Malfoy._"

"I'm perfectly aware of who it is, Ron, I don't need you to point it out for me," Hermione retorted. "And besides, I'm sure Hagrid has a completely logical explanation to all of this. Don't you?" She directed these last words at the large man beside her.

"O' course I do," Hagrid replied quickly. "Dumbledore's orders, see, wanted me ter pair yeh up with opposite houses. Summat about interhouse unity." Ron, still not satisfied, said, "But Hagrid, why Malfoy and Hermione?"

Sighing, Hagrid stated, "'Cause I knew outta all the girls, 'Ermione would be the one who could handle herself aroun' him. Won't let him take advantage o' her, see?" He seemed to have thought this adequately finished the discussion, because he walked off to hand out Clabberts to the other groups. Hermione gave Ron a look that said, _Can you argue with that?_

Ron, knowing Malfoy's reputation quite well, begrudgingly admitted defeat and let Hermione walk off towards Malfoy, while he stomped off to find Millicent. "He better not try anything funny, or I swear I'll bloody belt him," Ron thought to himself with an angry expression on his freckled face.

1.1.1.1

Hermione approached Malfoy with impending dread. "What have I gotten myself into? What if he's absolutely horrible to me?" She thought to herself, with some apprehension. "Wait, what do I mean _if?_ Of course he will be absolutely horrible to me," the brunette thought morosely. Then, she muttered to herself, "Oh, bugger it."

"Well, well, well. Look at this, the Mudblood talking to herself. How classic. I know everyone thinks you're brilliant or something, but I know better. Father always said there was a fine line between genius and insanity. It's obvious you have leapt over it." Hermione turned to meet Malfoy's drawl and the sneer on his face.

Hermione gave Malfoy a cold look that held the utmost contempt. "Ah, Malfoy, always the witty one," She retorted sarcastically. "You know after six years, I would have thought you'd be able to come up with a better comeback than 'Mudblood'. It really loses its, shall we say, _charm_, after the billionth time you use it."

Malfoy looked as if he was going to retort, but was cut off upon seeing Hagrid advance towards them. "What an oaf," he sneered under his breath, only to have a Death Glare from Hermione promptly meet him.

"Hagrid," Hermione spoke up with a confused look on her face. "There aren't any Clabberts left for us. What are we going to work with?"

"Well, I have a bit o' a special project for yeh two," the large man replied as he gestured for them to follow him. They stopped before a large basket on the ground. With a flourish, Hagrid lifted off the lid and enthusiastically said, "Yeh'll be workin' with a kneazle! And wha's special is: this one is pregnant!" At these last words, Hermione gasped while Malfoy involuntarily shuddered and said, "Ew."

"But Hagrid," Hermione piped up. "Won't this be really hard to take care of? I mean they need a completely different diet when they're pregnant. Not to mention they're really moody! What if we get hurt? What if the kneazle gets hurt? What if…"

"'Ermione, calm down!" Hagrid cut in when she was bordering on slightly hysterical. "Yes, it will be hard, but yeh won't get hurt. And I knew yeh two would be able ter handle it, 'cause yer the smartest I got in my class." At these last words, Hermione looked no longer hysterical, but pleased with herself, and Malfoy looked like his old smug self. "So will yeh do it? Please?" Hagrid asked, a pleading look in his eyes. Upon seeing this, the brunette could do nothing but acquiesce.

"Oh, alright Hagrid. What's her name?"

"Betty! Isn't she a be'uty?" Hagrid supplied, a misty expression on his face. Then he walked away towards the rest of the class, leaving Hermione and Malfoy alone. Once Hagrid was out of earshot, the latter rounded on Hermione.

"Listen, Mudblood. We're going to get a few things straight. I'm calling all the shots in this project, so you have to do whatever you say. Since I, naturally, will be supervising, you're going have to manage to do all the manual work yourself. I wouldn't want to get my perfect hands dirty now would I? Oh, and speaking of hands, do try and keep yours off me, I know it will be hard. I most certainly want your Mudblood filth all over me."

During this discourse, the prefect became increasingly angry. She pulled out her wand at pointed it at the blonde boy's throat, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I will not take your crap anymore, Malfoy," Hermione said in a low voice. "Next time I swear to all that is holy, you will not be so lucky, you arrogant piece of dung."  With these parting words, she lowered her wand, picked up Betty, and stalked off towards an equally angry Ron.

Malfoy, who seemed to have stopped breathing, whispered, "Bloody hell."


	2. The First Meeting

_The First Meeting_

"Bloody hell is right! It's about time you stood up to that…that boy!" Ginny exclaimed vehemently once Hermione had finished her story. "I bet he was scared. Did he cry? I bet he cried."  At this the redhead began to laugh, rather manically. In fact, Hermione grew a little bit scared and had to shake the girl to get her to shut up.

"Sorry," Ginny mumbled, looking a little bit embarrassed. "So where's my dear brother now? I bet he didn't take this very well."

"No, he didn't. He told me he was going for a fly with Harry, and I haven't seen him since," said the slightly crestfallen brunette. "I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid. You know how he gets when he thinks he has to protect me."

Suddenly, Hermione and Ginny both jumped at a loud noise that came from the portrait hole. A tall boy with flaming red hair climbed through in an obviously bad mood. The people in the Gryffindor common room all looked up, again, to see yet another sixth year about to set off on a tirade.

"I swear, I'll hurt him! I'll rip off his head then I'll throw it on the ground and then stomp on it! And then I'll take a picture so I can relive the moment over and over again!"  Ron shouted while making violent gestures in the air. "What!?" He said as he rounded on his girlfriend, who was trying to get his attention.

"Ron, I know you're angry, but you really need to stop yelling," Hermione said, feeling like a hypocrite. "It's all fun and games until you actually make a first year cry." Sure enough, a little girl in the corner had broken down into tears when she heard Ron's outburst. Upon seeing this, the redhead looked decidedly guilty and softened visibly. "I'm sorry," he uttered, almost incoherently, more to himself than Hermione or the little girl.

Then Ron turned towards his girlfriend and said, "Look, I just really, _really_ can't stand that stupid git, you know that. And I don't want you to get hurt or taken advantage of during this project. I'm only upset because I care about you."

"It's alright, Ron. I know you do. Just try to calm down a bit. I won't let Malfoy ruin this for me," replied the collectively calmer prefect. "And now I think I just want this day to end, so I'm going to turn in." With this promise, she bade goodnight to Ginny, gave Ron a small peck on the cheek, and went upstairs to the girls' dormitories.

2.2.2.2

The next morning, a certain blonde Slytherin woke up thinking about a certain brunette Gryffindor. Actually, he was thinking about how he was dreading of thinking about having to actually talk to her to set up a meeting that he was also dreading to think about. And now, on top of all this dread, Draco Malfoy had a headache from trying to follow the most confusing train of thought he had ever had. "Stupid Mudblood," he muttered to himself, "I haven't even started the project with her and she's already ruining my life." Then as an afterthought he added, "Ok, well maybe not my life, but certainly my morning." Begrudgingly, Draco pulled himself out of bed and got a shower for the day; after all you can't very well be the "Slytherin King" and smell like an old sock.

After most carefully stowing away his rubber ducky, Draco got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, ready to face the inevitable: setting up a meeting with none other that Hermione Granger to work on their project. Oh joy.

As Draco reached the enormous doors of the Great Hall, he had one last disturbing thought, "This is it. The beginning of the end."

2.2.2.2

"Oh, no. This is it. The beginning of the end," Hermione Granger thought as she saw Malfoy strut over to the Gryffindor table. "Either he is going to say something totally out of line to me or ask about a meeting…I don't know which is worse." Nonetheless, when Malfoy reached the table, she looked him straight in the eye. She would not let him get under her skin.

"Granger, we need to set up a meeting for this oh-so-enthralling project," he said in his usual bored voice. "I'll meet you in the Charms classroom tonight at eight. Do try not to be late. See you then…unfortunately."

"Oh, can't wait!" Hermione replied in a sarcastic, false cheery voice. "You always manage to bring sunshine to my day, Malfoy" At these words, the blonde boy didn't know whether to feel offended or horrified, so he just turned on his heel and stomped of towards the Slytherin table to ponder this over his bacon and eggs.

"That, my dear, was _brilliant,_" Ron said to the brunette, once Malfoy was out of earshot. Hermione simply sighed and said, "Yes, I know."

2.2.2.2

Luckily enough, the trio didn't have any more run-ins with Malfoy. Their first lesson, History of Magic with Professor Binns, was as usual, mind numbingly dull. Nevertheless, Hermione managed to pay enough attention to take precise notes while Ron and Harry slept nearby. Professor Flitwick planned a practical lesson with Animation Charms, which gave them free time to talk. By the end of the lesson, Hermione had successfully made several spoons do the can-can while singing a lively rendition of "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story. Ron and Harry, however, only managed to make their forks attack Seamus Finnigan while screeching random lyrics to the British National Anthem. They were given extra homework. It was shaping up to be a thoroughly uneventful day. That is, until they got to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Ok, everyone, get into your seats," said none other than the metamorphagus Nymphadora Tonks. She had suspended her Auror duties in order to help Dumbledore, who was finding it increasingly difficult to find teachers for the supposedly cursed position. "Today we're going to be working on…" But what exactly they would be working was never to be found out because at that exact moment, a tremendous noise came bursting in from the corridor.

Professor Trelawney, who had obviously been drinking, or "clearing her inner eye" as she would put it, came stumbling into the classroom. Abandoning her usual attire of shawls and beads, she wore instead a hot pink cocktail dress that reminded Harry horridly of one Aunt Petunia would wear. "I like—hic—elephants that—heh—dance the polka!" Professor Trelawney said, her voice devoid of its usual mistiness. "I also think—hic—that Snape is—heh—absolutely smashing!" At this, the class collectively shuddered and Parvati Patil actually gagged.

"Ok then, Sibyll" Tonks said as if she was talking to a five-year-old, "How about you just have a bit of this nice coffee, and then we can get you on your way!" Tonks handed her a cup of coffee that she had conjured up. And, from the look on Professor Trelawney's face as she drank it, it had a strong Sobering Potion added in it. "There you go, now why don't we get you back to your tower. Seamus, please escort her back. Thank you," the today pink-haired woman added after Seamus had taken the slightly dazed woman out of the classroom.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," Hermione whispered. Ron and Harry looked shocked and revolted, and Ron said, "I think I've been scarred for life."

Just kidding! This is what really happened.

The loud noise had actually come from a very furious man. "Where is my son?! I demand to see him!" Lucius Malfoy screamed as he stormed into the classroom. He spotted Draco, sitting in the back by Goyle, and stomped over to the seemingly unaffected boy. "Draco, what is the meaning of this?" Lucius asked in a strained voice.

"The meaning of what, Father?" Malfoy replied, looking entirely unfazed.

"The meaning of why Professor Snape informed me that you were working with that—that Mudblood!" the blonde man practically spat.

"Father, it wasn't my decision to work with _it_," Malfoy started to explain, "The stupid oaf Hagrid and Dumbledore put us together, and believe me I was just as infuriated as you are. I've already tried to get reassigned, but the Headmaster would hear none of it," he replied coolly. In an undertone, he added to his father, "And besides, I know quite a few things I can do to keep _it_ in check."  At this, Lucius simply gave the trademark Malfoy smirk and said, "Very well." Then he strode pompously out of the classroom, without even acknowledging the fact that he interrupted Tonks' class.

The class was totally silent for a few moments. That is until Ron jumped out of his seat, whipped out his wand, and practically threw himself at Draco Malfoy screaming, "You dirty bastard!" and other incomprehensible curse words. By this time, Malfoy had also gotten out his wand and was staring daggers at the redhead, while Crabbe and Goyle stood by waiting for Malfoy's cue to step in.

"Expelliarmus!" Nymphadora Tonks shouted, just in the nick of time. The wands of Malfoy, Ron, Crabbe and Goyle all flew out of their hands and into the stretched out one of the teacher. "You will all receive detentions for attempting to fight with another student."

"Fine," Ron said. "But if you _ever_ regard Hermione in such a derogatory way again, I swear next time I will bloody kill you," he added to Malfoy, who was very nonchalant for a guy who just got threatened twice in the same amount of days. After this, the class resumed with Hermione whispering comforting words in Ron's ear and everyone else learning about the effects of Dementors on the human body.

"Next class, we'll be learning about the theory of the Patronus Charm," Tonks called after the students, who were filing out of the room. "I need a martini," Hermione joked in her best tired, old lady voice. It was half true though, she was indeed tired and dreading the inevitable: she would have to meet the Satan incarnate in 4 hours' time.

2.2.2.2

At seven thirty, Hermione left the Gryffindor common room carrying Betty, who had taken up room under the brunette's bed, and with a foul mood in tow. As she approached the Charms classroom, she uttered a short reprise to herself, "Just please don't let me die."

"Ah, and here's the Mudblood now," came the slow drawl of Draco Malfoy. "And you've managed to make it on time," he added as he glanced at the clock on the wall. He then smirked at a flushed Hermione, who was clutching Betty a little too tightly. However, she seemed determined not to let him get to her.

 "Good evening, Malfoy. I thought we could start with figuring out a diet for Betty," the prefect said without missing a beat. "I figured we could start with a bunch of different foods and see which ones she will eat. From there, we can make a list and eventually start studying her behavioral habits."

"Whatever, Mudblood. Just be sure to stay five feet away from me at all times," Malfoy retorted. The next hour and a half passed at an excruciatingly slow pace, with Hermione doing most of the work with Betty and Malfoy sulking in a corner, only talking to point out Hermione's mistakes. The whole time, they had managed to stay away from each other, until Betty escaped Hermione's grasp and ran off towards the other end of the room. In the process, Hermione accidentally ran right into Malfoy and fell over.

"Granger!" the Slytherin cried. "Get your filthy hands off me! I mean I know you think I'm dead sexy and want my body, but, honestly, I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot broomstick." At these words, it seemed that the brunette had had enough.

"I can't _stand_ you Malfoy! You are such an arrogant little—SHEEP!" Hermione cried.

Malfoy, who seemed to look rather confused, said, "Hey! Sheep aren't very threatening…"

"Why do you think I used it?" Hermione replied with a smirk. Then she picked up Betty and flounced off towards the Gryffindor tower. Malfoy cleaned up all the food then walked out after her.

"I can be threatening," he said to himself as he walked down the corridor. At this, a portrait said sleepily, "Of course you can, dear."

A/N: So what do you think? Should I keep going or abandon all hope?


	3. Quidditch and the Threat of a Storm

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, creatures and places mentioned in this story. They belong to J.K. Rowling. I do however own the plot.

A/N: Trying to make my chapters longer, don't hurt me. YAY! I got reviews! Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! And to SugarBaby: I have a plan for Ron, you'll see.    ProwlingKitKat: My bad. Thanks for pointing it out!

_Quidditch and the Threat of a Storm_

The next morning, as Hermione made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast, she overheard the name of a certain Slytherin, one she would like to forget, coming from the nearest loo. However, what made her stop was hearing the name of her very own boyfriend. She peeked into the slightly ajar door to see who was talking, and was met with three fifth years who were primping in front of the mirror.

"So, who do you think the hottest Quidditch player is, Catie?" a tall girl with curly, black hair asked.

"Draco Malfoy, hands down," replied a slightly smaller girl with short red hair. "I mean, have you seen his body? Not to mention he's got that whole 'bad boy' thing going for him," At this, the other girls nodded in agreement. Catie then added with a sigh, "Too bad he doesn't go out with anyone below sixth year. Oh, well. What do you, think, Allison?"

"Well, Draco Malfoy _is_ hot, but I actually think Ron Weasley is pretty hot himself," Allison said as she shook out her straight blonde hair, admiring the effect. "I mean, I would most definitely go out with him any day. Too bad he's going out with Miss Perfect. I swear, if Hermione Granger were out of his life, then I'd jump on the chance like _that._" She snapped her fingers in order to emphasize her point.

Upon hearing herself be called "Miss Perfect" in such a mocking tone, Hermione got slightly angry and stalked off. She did, however, feel good about the fact that even though this girl—this _Allison_—liked her boyfriend, she would never have him. What Hermione didn't hear though, probably would have changed her mind.

"I mean, I bet I could break up Ron and Hermione if I really tried," Allison boasted.

"Yeah, right. Look, Ron and Hermione are, like, Hogwarts' perfect couple. You can't separate them, Allison. It just can't be done," said the curly haired girl, whose name was Marie.

Allison took one last look in the mirror and started to head out. When she got to the doorframe, she turned to the other two girls and said, "That's what you think."

3.3.3.3

"Hey, Ginny," Hermione greeted the youngest Weasley as she sat down at the Gryffindor table. The latter looked up from her _Daily Prophet_ crossword puzzle, and said with a smile, "Hey, you're looking better this morning."

"Yeah, I took a Dreamless Sleep Draught last night, and woke up this morning without remembering last night at all," Hermione replied. "But I did hear these three girls talking about Ron and me in the lavatory this morning."

"Oh, really? What did they say?" Ginny asked, waiting for Hermione to swallow her eggs before talking. Hermione told her everything, and when she was finished, Ginny asked, "Did you say that girl's name was Allison?" When Hermione nodded an affirmative, the redhead got a knowing look and said, "Yes, I know who you're talking about."

"Who?" Hermione prompted while she picked up her own _Daily Prophet_ and started paging through it.

"Her name is Allison Morell," Ginny replied. "She's in my year, a Ravenclaw. I've suspected her of having a crush on Ron for awhile now. Ever since she let it slip to me in Herbology that she wished he would ask her to the Yule Ball back in third year. Of course, Ron was never interested in her. He really only ever noticed you, Hermione." At these last words, Hermione blushed and stared fixedly at her plate of eggs.

"Oh, well you know," the brunette said quietly. Ginny just smiled knowingly and continued with her crossword puzzle. At that moment, Draco Malfoy strode into Great Hall, looking particularly smug about something.

When Hermione saw him she spat, "Malfoy." As he sat down at the Slytherin table, his and Hermione's eyes locked for a fraction of a second. His held a look of satisfaction ("Perhaps he thinks he's won," Hermione thought) and hers simply held a look of the utmost hatred. Ginny, being the very perceptive person she is, sensed an oncoming storm and said, "Hermione, do you think you can help me with my Transfiguration homework? It's upstairs in the common room."

"Sure, Ginny," the sixth-year replied in a slightly strained voice. "I'd love to." And with that, both girls got up from the table and walked out of the Great Hall.

3.3.3.3

Over the next two weeks, Hermione avoided Malfoy at all costs. To keep herself busy, she immersed herself in her schoolwork—that is, even more than she usually does. She also paid special attention to Betty's behavior; keeping precise and doing quite well without the help of Malfoy. Although, not that he would be much help even if he was participating.

Hermione awoke early one morning on the second Saturday in October and was faced with bitter winds and the promise of a great Quidditch match later. It was the first one of the season with Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw.  Harry was the new team captain, and had been busy filling the spots of the two Beaters and two Chasers. The team had been practicing daily, under strict privacy, in order to train the new players. However, nobody knew who they were yet, due to Harry wanting to keep his "secret weapon" under wraps until the big game. This meant that even Hermione, with her three best friends on the team, didn't even know who the new inductees were. The only information that the prefect did manage to procure was that Dean Thomas would now be commentating the matches.

"Ok, well I suppose I should get up and check on Betty. Then I'll go down to breakfast early to avoid _him _and then come back here for a bit of studying before the match. Yes, that's what I'll do," Hermione thought as she dragged herself out of her four-poster. She then looked under her bed to find Betty peacefully sleeping, so Hermione left out a bowl of food for her for when she woke up. Then she got dressed in her scarlet and gold for the match, and headed down to breakfast.

However, upon reaching the Great Hall, Hermione was surprised to see a certain Slytherin sitting by himself at the table. On account of this, she just ran in, grabbed a few pieces of toast and a cup of coffee, and ran right back out again. The prefect found solace back in her common room with her books, and stayed that way contently until people started filing in to head down to the match. Hermione caught up with Ron, Harry and Ginny before they went down to the pitch, giving them each a hug and a "Good luck" to go with it. A few minutes later, she herself joined the throng of students who were heading down for the sure-to-be exciting match.

3.3.3.3

"LOOK! The Quidditch tent is on FIRE!" Dean Thomas yelled into the megaphone. Everyone whipped their heads towards the tent, and upon seeing it fully intact, looked utterly bewildered. "No, only joking. Just seeing who was paying attention this fine morning! Look alive, all!" the Gryffindor said a little too jovially, causing some glares from the less awake students to greet him and Professor McGonagall to give him a warning look. "Anywho, on with the game! And coming out now is the Ravenclaw team with Captain and Seeker Chang; Chasers Edgecomb, Patil and African exchange student Nekenna; Beaters Goldstein and Corner; and finally Keeper Boot!" as he said their names, each player did a lap around the pitch and then landed neatly by Madam Hooch.

"And here we have the contenders of the Gryffindor team! Captain and Seeker Potter; Chasers Weasley, Brown and Creevy; Beaters Finnigan and Mitchell; and Keeper Weasley!"

Harry landed on the pitch along with the rest of his team after their names had been called. He glanced over to Cho, who gave him a polite smile and a small nod. He really didn't want to think about her at the moment so he returned the smile, but looked away. "We are going to beat them, I know it," Harry thought to himself. At that moment, Madam Hooch started talking.

"Ok, now I want a clean game, do you hear me?" All of the players nodded their assent, so the gray haired woman continued, "Alright then. Captains, shake hands. Ok, on my whistle. One, two," On three, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air.

"And, they're off!" Dean shouted. "Quaffle is caught by Gryffindor Chaser Weasley, who passes it to Brown who—misses it! Quaffle is intercepted by Ravenclaw Chaser Edgecomb; she flips it back to Patil. Patil heads off to the goal posts, narrowly missing a Bludger pelted from Gryffindor Beater Mitchell. Patil shoots and—oh, nice fake out there by the Chaser. Patil actually passes to Nekenna who shoots and...scores, 10 points to Ravenclaw." Dean said these last words without his usual enthusiasm.

"Anywho, back to the game! Quaffle goes to Weasley, who passes it to Creevy and—what's this?! Seekers Potter and Chang are neck and neck and hurtling towards the ground! It seems they have spotted the Snitch!" And indeed, Harry and Cho could be seen flying precariously close to the ground. "Yes! And at the last minute Potter pulls out of the dive and Cho crashes to the ground. Looks like Harry was leading her on, much like she did to him last year,"

"Thomas! Please leave personal business out of this commentary!" Professor McGonagall scolded.

"Sorry, Professor, it won't happen again. Anyway, Ravenclaw calls a time-out, but Chang seems to be alright so the game resumes! So Creevy currently has the Quaffle, he passes to Weasley, who passes to Brown, who passes back to Creevy. Nice bit of flying there by those three; Potter must have worked them hard on that formation. You know, I once went to the Quidditch World Cup, and Romania had a similar game plan. Perhaps Potter could have taken the…"

"Thomas! The game, would you please?" an already tired Professor McGonagall cut in.

"Right you are, Professor!" Dean continued, "Ok, so Creevy in possession of the Quaffle, he lines up the shot, he shoots and he…scores! Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are now tied with 10 points apiece! Quaffle now goes to Patil, who passes to—no! The Quaffle is intercepted by Weasley, who passes to Creevy, who passes to Brown, back to Weasley, Brown, Creevy, Weasley, Brown who takes it and scores! Yet another 10 points to Gryffindor, putting them ahead!" The scarlet and gold section of the stadium erupted in noise, while the Ravenclaw end booed.

Meanwhile, Harry was flying above everyone else and searching for the Snitch. He was currently at the Ravenclaw end of the pitch, and then he saw it: floating about Ron's knee. Harry took off to the other end, with Dean shouting, "And Harry Potter has spotted the Snitch! He takes off towards his own Keeper, Ron Weasley. Chang is trying to catch up, but is miles behind. Potter reaches for the Snitch and…OUCH!"

Harry had just outstretched his hand to close around the golden Snitch, when a Bludger came out of nowhere and hit him in the stomach. Harry, who had gotten the wind knocked out of him, doubled over and lost sight of the Snitch. All of the Gryffindors screamed, "FOUL!"

Dean Thomas' voice cut in saying, "And Potter takes a Bludger, hit by Goldstein, to the stomach. You know, someone once told me that getting a Bludger in the stomach is similar to getting a swift kick in the n…"

"THOMAS!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "Must I take over the commentary? I will not warn you again!"

"Sorry, Professor. I was only joking. Anyway, so Potter takes a Bludger to the stomach, and Madam Hooch calls a foul. Weasley comes in for the penalty shot, and gets it through the left hoop nicely. Gryffindors up 30-10, with Nekenna in possession of the Quaffle," Dean continued.

"OWWAY," Harry thought to himself as he regained his breath. "That hurt _just_ a bit. Now where did that Snitch go, eh?" The game went out without major incident for the next twenty minutes, with both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor scoring again. Then Harry saw something out of the corner of his eye: it was Cho diving for the Snitch. "Crap," Harry thought as he dove after her.

"Potter and Chang are yet again diving for the Snitch! Potter is behind, but easily makes up the distance on his trusty Firebolt. Chang attempts to shove Potter out of the way, but as he is heavier than her, she is the one who gets knocked off course! Harry reaches out for the Snitch and…YES! He has it! And Gryffindor wins the game with 190 points to 20!" Dean yelled with enthusiasm as the Gryffindors all streamed onto the field.

And as Harry stood there with the Snitch clutched in his hand, all he thought to himself was, "Woohoo!"

3.3.3.3

The party in the Gryffindor common room that night was, as Fred would have put it, "positively corking." Harry had snuck into Hogsmeade to get a few cases of Butterbeer, while Ron stowed away to the kitchens. He came back with piles of food accompanied by Dobby, who was more than happy to help "Mr. Wheezy." All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable time. Even Hermione got into the spirit—bravely trying some of Fred and George's new inventions. The effects left the prefect with an abundance of yellow feathers due to the Canary Creams, and bright pink hair, courtesy of Delectable Dyes. At some point, Ron called from across the room.

"Oi!" he said from his location in the corner. "We're outta food!"

Hermione, being the great girlfriend she is, said, "I'll go get some, Ron. I've been meaning to visit the house-elves anyway."

"All Right," replied the redhead. "But don't try to convince them to be free. I happen to like getting food whenever I want."

"Yeah, yeah," Hermione muttered as she made her way out of the portrait hole. "Guys, all they think about is food!"

3.3.3.3

Hermione was just making her way back from the kitchens—the house-elves being considerably friendlier to her—when she ran into the exact person she had been avoiding for the last few weeks. "Ugh, crap on toast!"

Draco Malfoy took one look at the exasperated teenager, and honestly tried hard not to laugh out loud. After all, Malfoys don't show outward emotion. "Hmm. Do I ignore this, or comment?" Draco thought to himself. "Ignore, comment, ignore, comment."

Meanwhile, Hermione stood by wondering why Malfoy looked like he was watching a tennis match, with his head tilting slightly from side to side. "Righty then, I wonder if I can just move away slowly…"

"Malfoy!" he thought. "You came to find her for a reason, remember? Ignore." And so that's what he did. Just as Hermione was moving away, Malfoy spoke up.

"Right, Granger. I'm not going to ask about…_this_," he said, gesturing towards Hermione's pink hair and yellow feathers. (The girl mentally slapped herself for not removing the spell before going out in public.) "Look, I know you've been avoiding me. Don't try to deny it," Malfoy added as Hermione opened her mouth to protest. "And I know you don't want me to be any part of this little project of ours, but this is my grade too. So either you let me take Betty, or we work together."

Hermione was torn. Both prospects seemed bleak and unappealing to her. Draco must've sensed this internal struggle because he added, "Granger, this isn't my cup of tea either, but if I want to be Head Boy next year, I need this grade."

The prefect couldn't deny the importance of grades, even if she hated this boy. "Damn you, Draco Malfoy!" She thought to herself. "And your duck too!" This last part, however, she said out loud.

Draco stiffened when he heard this. "My rubber ducky!" his head screamed at him. "She KNOWS!"

Hermione, on the other hand, just looked embarrassed so she quickly said, "Fine, Malfoy, but no more messing around. We're just going to get this thing over with. I'll meet you in the Charms classroom tomorrow tonight at seven. Do try not to be late." With this promise, the girl then turned on her heel and tried her hardest not to run back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Perfect," Draco said to himself as he made his way back to his own respective common room. "An arrogant sheep, am I? We'll see about that. Yes, revenge shall be sweet."


	4. A Duel and the Dreaded Missive

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing but the plot, so don't Spork me.

A/N: I shall not give away parts of my plot! You will just have to see. ::wink:: Thanks for reviewing my lovelies!

_A Duel and the Dreaded Missive_

The next morning Draco Malfoy awoke to a shaft of sunlight streaming through the folds of his dark green bed hangings. "Damn sunlight," he muttered to himself as he shuffled over to the window. He threw open the window and was met with a beautiful Sunday scene: blue skies, birds chirping, and a pleasant breeze blowing through the trees. However Draco Malfoy only thought, "Stupid nature. It's _sickens_ me!" He turned away from the window in disgust. He walked to his nightstand.

"Hello, Gill," Malfoy said to his pet goldfish. "How are we today? A goo goo boo boo?" The grey-eyed Slytherin continued to make cooing noises, unbeknownst to him that one of his housemates, Blaise Zabini, was standing in the doorway watching the whole scene. "You are a walking paradox, Draco Malfoy."

The blonde boy tensed, and then slowly turned to face the tall boy. "Hello, Blaise. I was just—erm…"

"Hey," the other boy said, holding up his hands. "I didn't ask." And with that he walked away.

"I must be more careful. I wouldn't want people to think I actually care about something." Draco thought to himself as he looked in the full-length mirror. Then he added out loud to his reflection, "Okay, Malfoy. You are a _vicious _beast, with a stone heart. You care about no one and nothing other than yourself. And Gill of course. Now give me a flex. Erg!" When the Slytherin King had finished admiring his many muscles, courtesy of Seeker training, he got a shower and then headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

4.4.4.4

"No!" Hermione whined as she was rudely awoken by Lavender Brown the next morning. "I don't want to go!"

"Hermione," Lavender interjected. "You have to get up. I will not allow you to sit up here and hide from Draco Malfoy all your life. Now UP!" With these last words, Lavender tugged at Hermione's feet as hard as she could. However, at that exact moment, the brown-eyed girl held onto her bedpost with all her might. "I REFUSE!" she screamed.

"FINE!" Lavender screamed back. Then she added in a low tone, "I'll just have to resort to using _the bucket_ on you." Hermione, knowing perfectly well that _the bucket_ was a method of waking up that involved ice cold water being poured all over you. "Okay, okay. I'm up," the girl said as she admitted defeat.

"Great!" the slightly taller girl said. "Now come here." Lavender dragged the brunette over to the full-length mirror and said, "Repeat after me. I, Hermione Jane Granger, am a strong, independent woman. I do not need to cower before Draco Malfoy, because he is just a silly boy with a wand."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but nevertheless she repeated the mantra in monotone. "There, happy now?" she asked. Lavender simply looked at her with eyes full of what seemed to be pity. "The question is, my dear, are _you_ happy?"

"Lavender, it's really too early for reverse psychology right now," the girl said as she pulled her hair up into its usual bun. "I need coffee," and with that she walked out of the room.

"Hermione!" the latter girl called as she walked out too. "One must not run from their problems!"

The brown-eyed Gryffindor grumbled and retorted with, "I'm not running! I am most certainly walking!" With that, she strode out of the portrait hole and to the Great Hall.

4.4.4.4

"Hello, love," Ron gallantly greeted Hermione on bended knee as he kissed her hand. The latter, smiling, shook her head and said, "You're such a dork."

The redhead replied with, "Yes, but you like it." He then presented the girl with one of his lopsided grins.

 "This is true," she voiced. Hermione couldn't help but notice that her boyfriend looked incredibly adorable with his red hair still tousled from bed. At that moment, the object of the brunette's affection immediately began devouring everything in sight. "Ok maybe not so adorable anymore," Hermione thought. "Nothing changes."

"S' 'Ermione, d'you fink you can 'elp me wiff ermwork 'onighit?" Ron said thorough a full mouth. Hermione looked utterly confused and said, "Come again?"

The redhead swallowed with some difficulty and repeated, "Do you think you can help me with homework tonight? Please?"

"Oh, all right," the girl acquiesced. "How about around eight thirty? I have to see Malfoy for our project at seven, unfortunately." At these last words, Ron began muttering to himself and buttering his toast a little too violently. Hermione decided to cut in before he ended up hurting himself. "Ron, I'll be _fine_.Malfoy doesn't scare me, and nothing's going to happen." 

"Fine," the tall boy muttered. "But if you're not back by eight thirty, then I'm coming to look for you." Hermione simply nodded, took one last sip of her coffee, gave Ron a chaste kiss on the cheek, and headed out of the big doors. She was in such a rush that she didn't even see that a certain Ravenclaw sat a few tables away and had been observing the whole scene from behind green eyes. The brunette wasn't the only one who thought Ron looked cute that morning.

4.4.4.4

The rest of the day passed rather slowly, and without incident. As it was Sunday and the students were free from classes, almost everyone endeavored to take advantage of the sunshine and ventured outside. Harry, Ron and Ginny took this opportunity to get some quality flying time. Hermione decided to go down to the pitch too, although she spent her time rereading _Hogwarts, A History_. When the sky started to darken, the foursome begrudgingly headed back to the castle.

At six forty-five, Hermione got up from her comfortable spot in an armchair by the fire and the pleasant conversation she was having with Harry and Ron, and went upstairs to get Betty from under her bed. Upon her return, she said, "I have to go meet ferret boy now, I'll see you guys later," said the brown-eyed prefect with a sigh.

"Don't forget about tonight, Hermione." Ron said, looking as though he would rather Hermione be going anywhere but where she was. "I won't," she replied with a smile that said, _Don't worry about me. _With that she left the common room and headed to the Charms classroom, ready for anything. Well, or so she thought.

4.4.4.4

"Hey, Granger," Malfoy said as he strode into the classroom. "So, shall we start? Oh, and the same rules apply as last time."

"Well, it's a slight improvement I suppose," Hermione thought as she looked at Malfoy. "Yes, we can start with simply taking some notes tonight. You know, studying behavior, taking her weight and maybe we can even see how many babies she'll be having." She said out loud.

Malfoy looked slightly surprised and voiced this by saying, "You can tell how many are in there?"

"Sure, I've read all about it," Hermione replied. "You just feel her stomach and basically try to count the little lumps."

The grey-eyed boy seemed a bit disturbed by this, but said "Interesting," nonetheless. The two sixth-years worked in an almost comfortable silence for the next hour, the only noise being Hermione voicing measurements, weights and other behavior habits to Malfoy, who would write them down.

Towards the end of the hour, Hermione looked up excitedly and said, "I can't be sure, but I think Betty is going to have seven babies!" Her chocolate eyes met Draco's grey eyes for a fraction of a second, until she looked down again. "I can't believe we survived this whole time acting positively civilly to each other! Maybe Malfoy's changed?" 

"Why is she so excited?" Draco thought to himself. "Seven kids, sounds absolutely dreadful to me. Oh, no! I haven't made a snide remark yet tonight. I better do that now." Out loud, Malfoy said, "Now I know what the Weasleys must feel like. It's too bad they aren't animals though, then they wouldn't know the difference about being poor. Although, some could argue that the Weasleys are animals, Merlin knows they act like it."

"Maybe not," Hermione thought bitterly before the rounded on the blonde boy. She pulled out her wand and strode right up to him. She got so close to his face that Malfoy could have counted the freckles on her face, had he not been so scared (and trying hard not to admit it to himself.)

"I'm sick of this Malfoy," the brunette said in a low voice, her eyes that had previously been warm were now cold as ice. "We are going to finish this. Stay here, I'll be right back." Whatever Malfoy had been expecting her to say, this most certainly wasn't it. He watched dumbfounded as she stalked out of the room.

When Hermione returned, she was carrying something in her hand. But before Malfoy could figure out what it was, she threw it at his feet. He looked at it, then at her, then at it again. Then he looked around the room, as if utterly confused. Finally, he said, "What the _hell_ just happened?"

"I threw a gauntlet at your feet," the girl said matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Malfoy replied slowly. "I can see that. You know that's defacing school property."

Hermione suddenly looked timid and replied, "Oh, well, yeah, I know. I'll put it back though…" Then she seemed to realize what she was saying because she burst out, "But that's not the point, Malfoy!"

"And what, pray tell, is the point?"

"The point is that I'm tired of you. We're going to settle this in a way I'm sure you can understand. We are going to duel."

The boy regarded her for a moment from behind stormy eyes. Finally he said, "Are you joking? You want to duel—with me?"

"Yes," Hermione said. Then she added in a pouty voice, "Are ya scared?"

"Me, scared of what? Certainly not a Mudblood with a piece of wood." Draco sneered.

"Shall we begin then?" Hermione said, but before he could answer, both teens pointed their wands at each other and screamed, "Stupefy!" The effect was rather interesting; both spells hit midair and then ricocheted off towards opposite walls.

Draco recovered quickly and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!"

But it seemed that Hermione refused to be beat this time. She screamed, "Protego!" and the spell simply bounced off of her. Then, before Draco could get a word in otherwise, the brunette shouted, "Reducto!" This spell sent Malfoy flying into the back wall, and then slumped to the floor, where he now lay unconscious and not breathing.

"Yay! I won!" Hermione thought. "But crap, now what?" The brunette was so caught up in thinking about what to do and, respectively, freaking out just a bit, that she didn't notice that someone else had joined them in the room. When they spoke, the prefect jumped.

"'Mione?" Ron said as he came in. "Is anything wrong? I mean I told you I'd come looking for you if you weren't…" the redhead suddenly stopped, however, upon seeing Malfoy crumpled on the floor. "Bloody hell, what did you do to him?"

"Oh, well, I just couldn't stand him anymore. So I challenged him to a duel…it sounded like a good idea at the time," Hermione replied timidly.

Ron looked shocked for a second then said, "You challenged him…to a duel…" He considered this then started laughing. "That's brilliant! He finally got what he deserved! Come on, let's go."

"But Ron," the brown-eyed girl interjected. "We can't just leave him here. I mean, he's not even breathing! What if someone finds him? He could say it was my entire fault and then I'll get in a lot of trouble!"

The latter seemed to be thinking about the situation. "Well, we could take him to Madam Pomfrey. She'd know what to do with him," he said finally.

"No! We can't. She'll want to know what happened to him. Ron, dueling is against the rules. I could lose my prefect badge!" Hermione was getting close to borderline hysteria. But after a few moments, her eyes cleared and she started muttering to herself. "Yes…it could work…though it would be rather disgusting, to say the least…but what other choice do I have?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hermione, you know I hate it when you do that. What are you talking about?"

The girl went about wringing her hands, and then said, "Well, I once took a Muggle class on resuscitation methods. I could use CPR on him…"

Ron was must've seemed bewildered, because Hermione clarified, "Well, it's when you get someone to start breathing again through mouth to mouth…"

The redhead didn't need to full understand this to know that his girlfriend's lips were going to be on ferret-boy. "Hermione, no! There's no way! Just leave him."

"I don't like the idea of this either, and you know I can't leave him. I'd rather just get it over with."

The two didn't notice that the blonde boy was now stirring in his corner. Malfoy managed to hear the last few exchanges in their conversation—enough to know what Hermione was planning on doing. "Ew! I have to get up before she even comes close enough to do that to me," Malfoy thought. "On the other hand…could this be an opportunity for my revenge? Sure, it would require a great sacrifice on my part, but I could piss off the Mudblood and the Weasel in one fell swoop. Here she comes, ok play unconscious."

Hermione walked over to where Malfoy lay and muttered, "Here goes nothing." She leaned down, pinched the boy's nose, and opened his mouth. Cringing, the girl took a deep breath, closed her mouth over Malfoy's, and breathed. Quickly, she pulled away and listened for any signs of him breathing on his own. There were none, so she took yet another deep breath, and put her mouth to his. "Now," Malfoy thought. At that moment, the Slytherin wrapped his hand around the girl's neck and pulled her into a very rough kiss. ("This magic moment…." Wait, wrong story.) Hermione seemed too shocked to do anything for a fraction of a second, but she finally pushed the boy away, and then slapped him across the face, much like she had in third year.

"You dirty—you filthy! ACK!" With these few fragments, Hermione ran out of the room, spitting and scraping at her tongue. "I'M DYING! I'VE BEEN POISONED!" She irrationally thought as she wove her way through the corridors.

Ron, left behind, was, needless-to-say, fuming. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy's throat. "I told you I would kill you if you tried anything!" The redhead was about to curse Malfoy into oblivion, when he heard a teacher approaching. Ron narrowed his eyes and said "This time you got lucky. Stay away from my girlfriend, Malfoy." With this, he picked up Betty and ran out after Hermione.

Draco, still on the floor, was tracing over the red mark on his face from the slap. "That was worth it, just for the look on Weasel's face," he thought. Finally he got up, brushed off his robes, and strode out of the room, licking his bottom lip and thinking, "Hmm. Vanilla-y."

4.4.4.4

As soon as Hermione got back to the Gryffindor common room, she ran up to her dormitory before anyone could ask questions. Once she got there, she grabbed her shower bag and then ran to the prefect's bathroom. She took a long shower, trying to wash away the dirty feeling that clung to her skin. "Ew. I have been DEFILED by a git!" She thought as she scrubbed herself raw. After her shower, Hermione went to brush her teeth. Following this, she gargled water and then spit. She repeated this again—brush, gargle, spit. The brunette commenced to do this for twenty more times.

When Hermione returned to her dorm that night, all of her thoughts kept leading back to Draco Malfoy and, respectfully, how much she hated him. At one point, Ginny came in to hear firsthand what happened. When Hermione finished her account, the redhead looked repulsed for a moment, but then her face broke into a sly smile. "So, how was it?" she asked.

Hermione looked up and said, "Pardon?"

"The kiss. How was it?" Ginny repeated.

"Ginny! Ugh! I don't want to even _think_ about it!" the brunette shouted as she covered her face.

"Hey," Ginny said with her hands up. "Sure, the guy is a git, and slimy, and pure evil. But he's hot. I'd kiss him any day." Then she flounced out of the room, leaving behind a stunned Hermione.

4.4.4.4

For the next week, Hermione Granger returned to her routine of avoiding Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin King, the Son of a Death Eater, the Prince of Evil, the—ok, moving on. So she avoided him at all costs, not wanting to even risk a glance in his direction. As such, the next week passed without much incident, until that one day in the common room, when Hermione's whole world was turned upside down.

The prefect had just settled in to get around to reading her copy of the _Daily Prophet_ from that morning, when a barn owl came in though the nearest tower window and swooped in front her, dropping a letter at her feet. Curious, she opened the letter and read:

_Hermione,_

_            This is very hard for us to tell you, but Nana passed away last night in her sleep. I know how close you were to her, so this must be coming as quite a shock to you—it certainly came as one to us. Apparently Nana was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, but she didn't have the heart to tell any of us. We're sorry you have to find out like this, but we didn't know of any faster means to reach you. The funeral will be in two days, so we'll have Professor Dumbledore send you here via Floo Powder. Until then, please try to be strong._

_With boundless love,_

_            Mum and Dad_

The prefect sat there stunned. She reread the letter again and then once more. "Nana, dead? But, no. It can't be," she thought to herself as she stared yet again at the piece of paper clutched in her hand. Then suddenly, the common room felt too suffocating, so she ran out of the portrait hole and to the astronomy tower. Once there, Hermione collapsed and started crying uncontrollably. Finally, when the stars came out and the brunettes sobs subsided, she got up and made her way slowly back to the common room. Upon arriving, she had an incredible need to see Ron, so she ran up to the boys' dormitories.

"Ron," she called as she reached the door. "Nana just d…" Hermione, however, was cut short upon seeing the redhead. He was in a current state of shirtless-ness and doing pull-ups from his bed frame. "Oh…look at those abs! He's so hot…" Hermione thought as she stared at him. "Wait, Nana? DIED! Stop thinking about his body!"

"Ron," she started again, a fresh wave of tears reforming. "My Nana just died! I don't know what to do!" Ron looked at her for a moment and then crossed the room in three easy strides and swept her into one of his bear hugs. "I'm so sorry, 'Mione," he whispered in her ear. They stayed that way for a while, until Ron said, "You should be getting back to your room," and started to pull away.

"No," Hermione said, feeling safe in his strong arms. "Ron, I just don't want to be alone tonight," she stated timidly. "Can I stay here with you?"

"Sure. Of course," the latter said as he pulled her towards his bed. Ron climbed in and then Hermione snuggled next to him. Almost immediately, the girl fell asleep with her boyfriend's arms around her.

The next morning Hermione awoke to Seamus Finnigan's voice that was saying, "Ron, get up!" as he pulled back the curtains to Ron's four-poster. Upon seeing him, the brunette blushed fiercely, gave a little squeak, and ran out of the room.

Seamus then gave Ron a knowing look. Quickly, the redhead stated, "Nothing happened! She was just upset that her Nana died."

"Right," Seamus replied. "If nothing happened, then Millicent Bulstrode's a pixie."

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to call her Tinkerbell then!" Seamus simply looked utterly confused at this retort so Ron clarified, "Oh, it's from this Muggle film. It's Hermione's favorite movie and she made me watch it with her…" At this, Seamus just shook his head and walked out of the room, but not before Ron threatened him by death if he spread around the wrong idea.

4.4.4.4

That day Hermione was excused from all of her classes, and for once she took her teachers up on that offer. She was so emotionally drained that she stayed in her room and slept for most of the day. Occasionally, someone would come in and check on her, usually Ginny, and every time she would say that she was fine and only a bit tired.

As Hermione lay there that night, she looked out of her window and saw that it was a full moon outside. She had a brief thought of Remus Lupin, but then thought of her Nana again. Suddenly, she had a crazy idea. "Why not?" she thought to herself as she got up and threw on her cloak. She silently made her way through the sleeping girls, trying not to wake anyone of them up. Hermione ran to the common room and out of the portrait hole as quietly as she could. Once outside, she ran to the front doors and slipped out into the moonlight. Unbeknownst to her, she had been watched.

4.4.4.4

Draco Malfoy had been out for one of his regular midnight strolls when he saw someone moving in the shadows. Deciding that it would be fun to catch a student out of bed, he followed the person all the way until they got to the oak doors. As the door opened, the moonlight from outside caught the face of the violator, and saw that it was none other than Hermione Granger. As she slipped outside, he thought, "Now what is the Mudblood up to now?" Curiosity took the best of him so he slipped out of the doors after her and was met with a decidedly interesting scene.

A/N: The CPR scene was inspired by the movie Sandlot, so I don't take full credit for it.


	5. Moonlight and Secret Whispers

Disclaimer: I own the plot. Everything else is J.K. Rowling's.

A/N: Thanks, as usual, for reviewing! Sorry this took awhile, my internet's been down. But, as this chapter is really long for me, here's to hoping you don't have murderous thoughts. Enjoy!

_Moonlight and Secret Whispers_

As Hermione slipped out of the front castle doors, she immediately felt comforted by the luminescent glow that the full moon cast over the grounds. She strode over to the lake and stood by the water's edge. As her brown eyes turned towards the sky, Hermione pulled at the elastic that held her hair up in its usual bun. Brunette curls fell down to the middle of her back as she stretched out her arms and took in the moonlight. Slowly, Hermione started to move around in simple patterns and dancing to the music only she could hear.

Draco Malfoy stood behind a tree as he surveyed this scene. "What the _hell_ is Granger doing?" he thought to himself as she started to dance about. "That's it. I've decided. She's gone mental, that one. The question is whether or not I go tell someone that the perfect prefect is out of bed." However, even as he thought this, he did not move from his spot. Malfoy seemed to be in trance; watching Hermione as she wove her way through the air.

Draco had one fleeting thought of Hermione looking like a fairy, but he immediately dismissed it, barely even noticing he thought it in the first place. His findings were indeed accurate. With the moon's light playing over her face, Hermione seemed to have taken on an otherworldly quality. Over the past year, the girl grew up, to put it simply. She had grown taller and filled out a bit more. Her hair had lost its bushy state, and now cascaded down her back in softer, more tamed curls.

Finally, Hermione stopped twirling about and walked back to the castle. "She's so beautiful. Why didn't I notice before?" Draco thought to himself as he watched her go. He made his way to go after her when suddenly the Slytherin came to a screeching halt. "Wait…fairy? Beautiful? Malfoy, what the bloody hell are you thinking? Now, try again." He considered for a moment and then out loud he yelled, "AH! MY EYES! THEY BUURRRNNN!" This caused many of the owls in the Forbidden Forest to abandon their perches and fly away. However, as Draco started walking again, a little voice inside his head said, "You know you liked it." The blonde boy narrowed his eyes and retorted with, "Shut up."

5.5.5.5

When Hermione finally climbed back into her bed that night, she felt considerably more relaxed and had a bit less sense of loss. "Goodnight Nana," she whispered to the dark before falling asleep.

The next morning Hermione awoke to a light October rain pattering at her window. "Today is Nana's funeral," she thought to herself, sadness filling her once more. "I better get ready and head to Dumbledore's office." She pulled back the curtain from her bed and saw that everyone had already headed to breakfast. Hermione got up and dressed in a simple black dress and pulled her hair up and away from her face. She put on a small amount of make up and then went down to the common room where Ron, Ginny and Harry all waited for her. Once they saw her, they brought her into a group hug, realizing words weren't necessary.

When they finally pulled away, Ron asked, "Do you want me to go with you 'Mione?"

Hermione looked up at him and said, "Thanks, Ron, but I think I need to do this alone. Besides, my family will be there."

"Okay. Well I'll be here when you get back," he replied as he put a kiss on her forehead. Then Hermione walked out of the portrait hole and towards Dumbledore's office.

"Toothflossing Stringmints," Hermione said as she reached the office. Immediately the wall behind the stone statue opened up to steps that wound their way to the top. She was just about to knock on the oak doors when she was met with the benign smile of Albus Dumbledore.

"Hello, Ms. Granger. Please come in," he said as he opened the doors far enough to let Hermione in. "Now, I assume you've traveled by Floo Powder before, am I right?"

"Yes, sir," Hermione replied as she took some of the powder that the old man had handed to her. He seemed to be considering her from behind twinkling eyes as she turned towards the fire.

"Just step in and say 'Granger Household' clearly," Dumbledore said as she threw the powder into the fire. "And remember Ms. Granger, that death isn't a permanent fate. It is but the next step in life. Your grandmother hasn't left you; she is just taking part in another adventure until you can join her again."

 "Thank you, Professor," Hermione replied, feeling a little bit better about this morning. She finally stepped into the fire, saying, "Granger Household." Suddenly, Albus Dumbledore and his office were whisked away and at the next moment Hermione found herself back in her own living room.

5.5.5.5

When Hermione appeared in the fire grate, the first thing she saw was both of her parents coming towards her and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, honey. We're so glad to see you, even if the circumstances surrounding your visit are very bleak," her mom said as they pulled away.

"It's good to see you, too." Hermione voiced as she looked around the room. "So where is the service going to be at?"

"The old church that Nana always used to go to," Mr. Granger replied as he straightened his tie in the mirror. Then, looking at his watch, he added, "The service starts in an hour, so we better get going." With this, the three Grangers walked out the front door and into their car.

As Mr. Granger and Mrs. Granger talked in the front seat, Hermione sat in the back and stared out the window, thinking of all the times she and her Nana had spent together. Nana was Mrs. Granger's mother, and had a flare for the dramatic. She lived for storytelling and had an unrivaled passion for the simple things in life. Hermione couldn't count all the stories her grandmother had told her. Her favorites to tell were about ancient myths and legends. Hermione loved these the most because she and her Nana would dress up and act out the majority of them. Finally, Mr. Granger's voice broke her reverie, "Ok, we're here. We should go in and greet the people who come."

Hermione climbed out of the backseat and realized that she had been crying softly. She looked up at the old wooden church that her Nana would faithfully go to every week. As she walked towards the church, Hermione vaguely remembered that the last time she had been there was for her Grandfather's funeral, which was back in the summer before first year. Inside, the church was dressed with simple displays of white lilies—her grandmother's favorite flower. It was a closed-casket service, but Hermione took the red rose she brought and took it up to the altar anyway. "Goodbye, Nana," she whispered as she placed the rose among the white lilies.

The next hour and a half passed in a blur to Hermione, and by the end she felt emotionally drained. She remembered meeting many people she didn't know, who all said "I'm sorry" before moving on to her parents. She would simply give a small smile through her tears. Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Granger drove back to their home. Upon arriving, Hermione collapsed onto their couch. Her mother came over and sat next to her, carrying a large book. "Here," she said, handing the book to Hermione. "Nana said she wanted you to have it."

Hermione looked down at the book and then opened the leather binding. Inside were hundreds of photographs that her grandma had collected. "Most of the older ones are of Nana and her friends," her mother explained. "But some of the ones towards the back are of you and her." Hermione flipped to the back and looked through the pictures of her and her Nana. She saw a few of when she and Nana would put on their legend plays. Hermione looked up through a veil of fresh tears and whispered, "Thanks Mom." Her nodded and then left Hermione to look through the book. She traced her fingers lightly over the many pictures of her Nana in various plays and ballets. Then something caught her eye. On the front inside cover, her grandmother had written: _Hermione—Never forget who you are or where you come from. Keep the magic in your heart. Love, Nana._ Hermione smiled as she read this. Nana didn't know that she was a witch, but Hermione always got the feeling that she got her magical ability from her grandmother. The brunette finally realized at that moment what Dumbledore was talking about. Her Nana could never leave her because she was an integral part of Hermione's spirit. She would rejoin her in the adventure one day.

"Hermione, it's time for you to get back to Hogwarts," her dad came in and said to her. The prefect got up and crossed the room to her father, whom she gave a big hug.

"Okay, Dad. I'll miss you," she said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. She turned to her mother and did the same, saying, "And you too Mom. Thanks for giving me the album." With this, Hermione stepped back into the fireplace, made sure the photo album was tucked safely in the crook of her arm, and said, "Hogwarts Castle." She watched through teary eyes as her living room melted away. After a few moments, she found herself back in Dumbledore's office. She found the whirring and clinking of the many instruments on the tables comforting. Dumbledore seemed to be around the castle somewhere, so Hermione let herself out and walked slowly back to the Gryffindor common room as she looked through her new prized possession.

5.5.5.5

The week after the funeral passed without much incident. Hermione slowly became happier and busied herself with taking care of Betty, who was becoming increasingly rounder about the middle and moodier. Draco Malfoy hadn't said anything to her since he followed her that night, mostly because he was confused as to why he thought those things about Hermione. The only time they saw each other was from across the room in class or at mealtimes in the Great Hall. At one of these times, Dumbledore stood up and called everyone to attention.

"We will have out first Hogsmeade visit this Saturday. Third years and above who have their signed permission forms are welcome to attend. And as you know, next Saturday is Halloween so we will have our usual feast and something else special I have prepared for all of you. Thank you." Over the next few days all everyone could talk about was what the surprise could be and the upcoming Hogsmeade visit. Hermione and Ginny planned to spend the day together, without the guys. Draco planned on patching things up with Hermione that day—well at least as much so they got to a place where they could actually be civil to each other. Anything had to be better than their previous hostile, not talking state.

On Friday morning, Hermione woke up with growing anticipation for the day. She and Ginny had planned out the whole day, beginning with them heading to Honeydukes so Ginny could restock her supply of candy—Hermione never really had much of a sweet tooth. She got up, took a shower, and then dressed in a sweater and a pair of jeans. She was about to pull her hair up, but then decided against it and wore it down for the day. The brunette bounded down the stairs in a very un-Hermioneish way, but nevertheless landed gracefully in the common room. She looked around for Ginny and then spotted the unmistakable flaming red coif across the room. "Good morning," Hermione said brightly as she reached down to give Ginny a hug.

Ginny laughed and returned the prefect's hug. "Well someone's in a good mood this morning. Any particular reason why?" she asked as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Ginny!" Hermione shouted, her cheeks flushing. She covered her face with her hands and just sat there.

"What?" Ginny replied innocently. "So does this mean that there is?" she added with a small smile.

Hermione looked up at the redhead and then realized something. "You know, Ginny, if this was about a guy, it'd be _your_ brother."

The latter shuddered involuntarily and then said, "Ok, ew…let's just go now." And with that the two girls sauntered out of the common room and then down to the Great Hall for a bit of breakfast—Hermione insisting that she needed coffee to wake up and Ginny looking at her as if she was crazy.

After breakfast, the girls quickly made their way to the front doors where Filch checked their names off a list before letting them go down into Hogsmeade. Once there, Ginny spoke up and asked, "Shall we begin our quest, kind lady?"

"Why, yes. Yes we shall," Hermione replied before the redhead pulled her into the first stop of the day: Honeydukes. As they walked inside, their eyes were met with the sight of pounds upon pounds of candy _everywhere._ This sight never failed to amaze Hermione, who spent her life growing up with dentists and was denied the pleasure of raiding a candy store. By now, it seemed too late for her love of candy to really develop, so the brunette spent the time looking at all the different candies while Ginny was actually off buying it. Finally, after an hour, they came out with Ginny carrying bags full of Fizzing Whizbees, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, and some of their new fudge—Dark Chocolate with Peppermint Swirl. Hermione, on the other hand, just bought two bags of Toothflossing Stringmints; one for her and one for her parents.

Their next stop of the day was Eelop's Owl Emporium. "Fred and George sent me some money so I could finally have an owl of my own," Ginny explained as they walked inside. The two girls had fun looking at the different breeds and cooing at them in a thoroughly annoying way. Finally, they came to a cage with a large tawny owl. "Why, hello there," Ginny said as she looked at the creature. The owl hooted at her softly from behind her cage and then stood at attention. "I like this one," Ginny announced. Then turning to the clerk she said, "I'd like to but this one please."

"Of course, dear," the woman said from behind the counter as the redhead brought the cage over. "That will be five galleons and nine sickles." Ginny dug through her coin purse and then handed over the money. She then picked up the cage and walked out of the store saying, "I think I'll name her Artemis." Hermione looked at the owl and then nodded her approval.

The latter looked down the street as she tried to think of something to do next. "Why don't we go to the Three Broomsticks for some Butterbeer?" Hermione suggested as she shivered slightly from the cold. Ginny gave her consent and then headed the brunette towards the pub with Artemis in tow. When they got inside, Ginny went to the front and asked Madam Rosmerta for two Butterbeers as Hermione went to find a booth.

"Here we go," the redhead said as she sat beside her friend. Hermione took a sip of her drink and immediately felt its warming effects all the way to her toes. She was endeavoring to take another sip when a flash of red hair (and most certainly not Ginny's) caught her eye. Hermione looked up to see Ron sitting in a booth talking with some girl. Now normally she wouldn't be bothered by this, but the fact that they were talking so close to each other did. When the girl pulled away Hermione saw her face and recognized her immediately: Allison Morell.  

"Oh, no she didn't!" Hermione thought to herself and she got up quickly from her chair. She took one last look at the way Allison would lean in close to whisper something to Ron and then the way he would laugh at what she would say. "That's it," she out loud and then stormed out of the Three Broomsticks.

Ginny started to ask Hermione what was wrong when she saw Ron sitting in the booth with Allison. She decided against going after her friend and decided instead to confront Ron about everything. Ginny stomped over to her older brother and stood before him with her hands on her hips, wearing a look that resembled greatly Mrs. Weasley's when she was angry. "Ronald Weasley," the girl said in a low voice. "You had better explain yourself." Ron shrunk under her stare and then started to explain.

5.5.5.5

As Hermione burst out of the pub's door she jogged about two paces, muttering to herself of course, when she ran into something like a brick wall and landed on her backside. "What the _hell!_" she screamed as she tried to get up. "Sorry," someone said as they offered a hand to her. She looked up and saw that the brick wall was none other than Draco Malfoy. Draco couldn't help but think that Hermione looked very pretty right then, much like she had that one night outside, which she still didn't know she knew about. "No, not you!" Hermione said exasperatedly as she smacked away his hand and got up on her own. "What is this, Intolerable Git Day?" she asked to no one in particular as she made her way back towards the castle.

Draco was more than a little confused but he spoke up anyway saying, "Granger, wait," She stopped and looked at him expectantly. "Well I just wanted to say I was sorry…" he began, trailing off towards the end.

"Pardon?" the brunette said a little impatiently.

"I said I just wanted to say I was sorry for…well you know," the blonde boy said a bit sheepishly. "And I want to be part of the project. For real this time."

Hermione regarded him for a second, and then saw Ron heading out of the pub behind Draco. "Fine, whatever, Malfoy. We'll meet again in the Charms classroom sometime before Halloween. Just leave me alone right now, ok?" she said as she turned to run again.

However, Draco grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She gave him a disbelieving look and started to say, "Like you care," when something stopped her. There was something different in Draco's grey eyes that time—something that looked like compassion. Hermione dismissed it as a trick of the light and said, "It's nothing Malfoy." She then hurried off towards the castle.

5.5.5.5

When Hermione reached the Gryffindor common room, she was surprised to find that Ron had beaten her back. When he saw her, he got up and came over to her. "I don't want to hear it, Ron," the brunette said as he got near her.

"Just please let me explain, 'Mione," he said with a pleading look in his eyes. When she didn't move away he continued. "Allison is just a friend. I saw her when I came in so I decided to go say hello. Then we got into a conversation about Quidditch and, well, you know me and Quidditch," he finished rather lamely.

"Ok, well then why were you two leaning so close?" Hermione asked.

"It was loud in there," Ron explained. "She had to lean close so I could hear her." Hermione looked as though she still didn't believe him so he said, "'Mione you know you're the only one I care about. Stop being so jealous."

"I am _not_ jealous!" the prefect protested. Ron gave her a look so she said, "Ok, maybe just a little."

"So does that mean you forgive me?" Ron asked with a playful smile.

Hermione's anger melted away and she replied, "Yes. But don't do this again." And with this they went off on their merry way.

5.5.5.5

The next few days were filled with anticipation. With the Hogsmeade visit behind them, the only other thing people had to talk about was the "something special" Halloween had in store for them. There were many rumors that Dumbledore and the rest of the staff were going to put on Halloween skits. Hermione, however, looked at Professor McGonagall and decided that this was highly unlikely.

Meanwhile, there was another Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, with Slytherin winning. Hermione put the incident with Allison behind her and decided to ignore the blonde Ravenclaw for the time being. Other than this, nothing was going on in the lives of the various Hogwarts students—they were all waiting anxiously for Halloween to arrive.

On Wednesday morning, Draco Malfoy strode into the Great Hall and went directly over to where Hermione was sitting. "Can I meet with you tonight?" he asked as Ron stared daggers at him.

The brunette looked up from her bacon and eggs and then said, "Oh, yes I forgot all about it. Sure, I'll meet you tonight at seven, ok?" Draco simply nodded his assent before walking back to the Slytherin table.

"You know you don't have to try so hard to be civil to him," Ron said from behind clenched teeth.

"I know," Hermione replied, looking pensively at Draco. "But I'm just tired of fighting. I'd rather be civil then worried that he'll bite my head off." The blonde boy seemed to have felt eyes on him because he glanced up suddenly and caught Hermione's gaze before she quickly turned away.

5.5.5.5

At seven o' clock sharp, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy could be found in the empty Charms classroom, eyeing each other apprehensively. Hermione was clutching Betty and thinking about their upcoming Transfiguration test. Draco held in his hands the notes from the last meeting and was thinking the trifle he had for dessert. Consequently, both of them were also thinking about their last meeting and how that turned out, and of what the other was thinking besides the aforementioned of their collective thinking. Finally, Draco noticed that they had been staring at each other and thinking for about five minutes, so he said, "Okay then…erm, shall we start?"

Hermione was, however, still pondering and clutching and staring, and didn't hear him. She only came to when Malfoy came up and snapped his fingers in her face. "Oh, sorry," she voiced. "What did you say?" Draco repeated himself, something which he hated to do, and she said, "Of course. There's nothing really too much that will happen between now and the birth, so I suppose we should just do what we did last time," Then blushing, she added, "Well besides duel and, well, you know."

"Right, well then I'll just take notes." Draco said without looking at Hermione. They continued as such in a comfortable silence for the next hour. Draco liked it, really. He didn't enjoy fighting with people, like so many people thought. Well, he did like to fight with Potty and the Weasel, but not with Hermione. She got too emotional and that made him feel, and he shuddered to think this, guilty.

"Well, I think that's all we can do for now," Hermione spoke up, breaking the silence. Then she turned fully to the Slytherin and holding her hand out she said, "Look, Malfoy. I really don't have the energy to fight with you anymore. So can we just call a truce or something?"

He looked at her and then shook her hand saying, "Truce." Hermione simply nodded, picked up Betty and started to walk away when Malfoy's voice stopped her. "I'm really not as evil as you think I am." She looked back and saw that the expression in his eyes was sincere.

"I know, Draco," she said as she walked away. It was only when she was halfway down the corridor that she realized Kneazles were supposed to detect untrustworthy people. Betty was never hostile towards Draco. Perhaps she knew something Hermione didn't.


	6. Halloween and Getting Caught

Disclaimer: I don't even own the laptop I'm typing on. Seriously.

A/N: Ok, so my internet is shot, so I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner. But alas! I'm using my daddy's laptop, but that also means I'm retyping everything I have already written. So hopefully this works. Thanks for reviewing! Italic passage is a dream.__

_Halloween and Getting Caught_

For the next three mornings, Hermione would always wake up with flashes of a dream she had had. It seemed to be plagued with blonde hair and a certain set of grey eyes. What Hermione couldn't understand, however, was the fact that in the dream Draco was saving her from some unknown force. At this point the prefect would promptly wake up and didn't get to find out what would happen next. On Saturday, the morning of Halloween, the brunette finally got fed up.

"Honestly! This is ridiculous. It's bad enough I have to see him everyday in person I really don't need him perusing through my dreams as well!" Hermione said to herself as she wrapped a robe around her. She walked out of the sixth years' dormitory and went to Ginny's room. Hermione went over to her nightstand and picked up her Divination book. Luckily, no one was in the room because it wouldn't do if someone found her looking through a book on such an imprecise branch of magic. What would people think? The brunette quickly turned to the chapter on dreams. She flipped to the section on recurring dreams and then looked for the theme in the dream.

"Well," she said to herself. "Malfoy is saving me…what the hell does that mean?" Almost immediately Hermione's eyes fell on the passage title "Saving or Being Saved." She quickly read through it and then gasped. According to the book, the fact that she was being saved by Draco meant that she was starting to trust him. "Me? Trust…_him?_" At this thought, the prefect started laughing. In fact, she was laughing so hard that she developed tears in her eyes. "Oh, that's rich. Me trusting ferret-boy," she continued to chuckle at as she made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

6.6.6.6

"What are you laughing about?" Ron asked as he sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Hermione looked up and realized that if she told him the whole truth, he'd probably blow a gasket, so she opted for the next best thing. "Oh, it's just something I read in this book." "There," she thought. "A fib. Let them try to send me to the fiery inferno. A.k.a the Malfoy Realm."

"Oh, really?" Ron interjected. "What book?"

"Crap," Hermione thought. "An unexpected obstacle. Ok, just stay calm." Out loud she responded, "It's called _The Collected Works of Mark Twain._" Ron got a glazed look in his blue eyes, which was exactly what the prefect had hoped for. But, as to not look suspicious, she elaborated with, "It's a Muggle book." This seemed to clear it up for him, or he simply lost interest, because he turned and promptly began devouring everything within reach.

Hermione then returned to admiring the décor of the Great Hall. This year, Hagrid had not only supplied the room with four massive pumpkins that could easily fit three men, but also managed to procure several ghouls to flit about each one. But, of course, most of the decorations wouldn't be up until later tonight at the feast, when Dumbledore would finally reveal what he had been planning for the shindig. Every year, the school managed to outdo itself, and Hermione was sure this year would be no exception.

The brunette had just moved on to contemplating the meaning of life when she felt someone looking at her. She glanced up and saw Malfoy staring at her in a pensive way, his eyes holding an expression she couldn't place. Hermione, quite frankly, didn't know what to do or think, but luckily her thoughts, or lack thereof, were interrupted by Ron.

"Is Malfoy bothering you again, Hermione? 'Cause I swear, I'll deliver him a nice flogging. Just say the word," he said as he punched one fist into his other hand.

"No," Hermione voiced as she turned to her boyfriend. "We've come to a sort of understanding. I don't think he'll be bothering me anymore. Thanks though." Ron didn't seem to be convinced, but he turned away and continued eating nevertheless. Hermione, however, was still thinking about the way Malfoy had looked at her. "Maybe things do change, after all," she thought to herself before being distracted once again by another train of thought.

6.6.6.6

"BOO!" Ginny screamed as she jumped up from behind the chair Hermione was sitting in. The latter jumped about six feet, pulled out her wand, and looked around for the obvious danger. Upon seeing the redhead rolling on the floor in mirth, Hermione's face fell, disappointed that she wouldn't have the pleasure of cursing someone into oblivion. Preferably, a supremely evil bad guy, but any wrongdoer would suffice. Some people dreamed of being a great doctor, she just wanted to hex the living daylights out of someone.

"Wow. You should—have seen—the—the look on your face!" Ginny shrieked between her infectious giggles. "You looked like some sort of warrior woman."

"Ginny!" Hermione finally said. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that. It could get you in a lot of trouble one day! Now say what to say before I get really angry!"

The brunette sounded a lot like a drill sergeant, so Ginny simply saluted with an "Aye, aye Captain!" which really didn't make any sense if she would have taken the time to think about it. "Just wanted to see what you were thinking about, my dear. You had that far away look again."

"Oh," Hermione replied softly. "Well…" In truth, the brown-eyed girl had been thinking about Malfoy, much to her dismay. "It's not my fault that he is so confusing and so evil. Yes, evil. That has to be it…right?" she tried to convince herself as she stared out into space. She continued in this fashion for a few more minutes until Ginny snapped her fingers in the prefects face.

"Hello? Earth to Hermione!" she practically screamed.

"Oh, sorry Ginny. I was just…" she began.

"Thinking again," Ginny finished for the brunette. "But what, pray tell, are you thinking about? I've never seen you stare off into space so many times in one day. Are you feeling ok?" she said as she put a hand to Hermione's forehead.

The prefect was silent for a moment but then got exasperated. "I'm perfectly fine Ginny. I've just got a lot on my mind…you know with the N.E.W.T.s coming up next year and all," she replied, hoping the redhead would accept this.

Ginny stared at Hermione, then shaking her head she replied, "Hermione, those aren't until next year! You really should stop worrying so much. Now come on, the feast is starting in ten minutes and I don't want to miss the big surprise." With this the youngest Weasley linked arms with Hermione and then strode out of the common room in the general direction of the Great Hall. The brunette simply walked along, feeling bad for lying to Ginny, but knowing the truth would have been worse. "What _is_ the matter with me?"

6.6.6.6

"RAR!" the door handle roared as Draco Malfoy reached out to pull the door open. "Childish," the Slytherin remarked as he looked around. Many of the other students had jumped and screamed. "But effective." He finally pulled the door wide and was met with the sight of a thousand live bats flitting about the enchanted ceiling, which took on the look of a cloud ridden sky with matching flashes of lightning and thunder claps of the sky outside. Spiders hung from the ceiling rafters and silver blood dripped down the walls and into puddles on the floor. "Nice," Draco commented as he made his way over to the Slytherin table. Only a few candles floated over the tables, giving the room an ominous feel. He looked across the hall until his grey eyes met the now familiar sight of a certain brown-eyed Gryffindor.

"What is the matter with me?" Draco thought to himself as he watched Hermione talk animatedly with Ginny. "Why can't I stop staring at her? I mean, Malfoys _never _stare. It simply doesn't happen. I mean, she's even in my dreams. I'm always saving her, whatever the hell that means. Too bad I can't figure out what happens next, maybe then I would be able to forget about it," he thought morosely. Draco then noticed that Hermione was staring right back at him, so he lifted his goblet of pumpkin juice to her as if in salute. She simply nodded and smiled, then went back to her conversation with Ginny.

6.6.6.6

Hermione raised her glass to Draco's before she went back to talking with Ginny. Or at least trying to do so; she really couldn't concentrate, owing to the fact that she didn't know why the blonde boy's eyes always seemed to find hers in a crowd. "Maybe I was wrong about Malfoy," she thought to herself. "Maybe he is trying to change, but I'm just trying to convince myself that he is in the wrong." Now, this thought was somewhat of a breakthrough for Hermione Granger. It took a lot for her to admit she was wrong, simply because she was never wrong. It was just one of those things that didn't happen in the organized life of Hermione. At this moment, Dumbledore's voice broke her reverie.

"Ladies and Gentleman, if I could have your attention please," he said, and of course, everyone immediately fell silent and say at rapt attention. "I know you have all been anxiously awaiting the reveal of the 'something special' I have planned for you all. Well, it really takes place in two parts—one involving translucent beings, and the other involving some good-natured fun. So without further ado, I'll get on with the first part," he waved his hand and a curtain that surrounded what seemed to be a small stage fell away. "I present to the Hogwarts ghosts with dramatic reenactments of their deaths."

Everyone "Oooh'ed" and then turned their attention to the small stage where Nearly Headless Nick was running from a band of soldiers. Hermione and the fellow Gryffindors watched in turmoil as Nick got caught and placed on a chopping block. They endured the gruesome sight as a particularly stupid soldier tried to chop of Sir Nicolas' head, and doing a very poor job of it indeed. Finally, the ghost stood with his head hanging on by an inch of flesh, bowed deeply, and said, "And this is how I became known as Nearly Headless Nick." With this, the ghost tipped his head back on his shoulders and moved into the crowd of clapping students as the Fat Friar stepped onto the stage.

"Oh, Nick that was _horrible!_" Hermione cried as the ghost sat down at the table near her. "I mean, the acting of it was wonderful, but the actual experience must have been absolutely dreadful!"

"Yes," Nearly Headless Nick replied. "It was." The conversation was then left at that as Nick turned to talk to a fifth year Hermione didn't know. The prefect tried to concentrate on the Fat Friar's performance, but she suddenly felt claustrophobic. She could feel Malfoy's eyes on her again and everyone else just seemed overly cheery.

"I need some air," she said to no one in particular before walking out of the Great Hall and onto the front doorstep. Hermione sat there for awhile, thinking of course. "I wish he would just stop looking at me like that…like he's trying to figure me out or something…" she muttered to herself. The brunette was just about to give up and go back inside when a voice came from behind her.

"Talking about someone I know?" Draco said as he sat down by Hermione. She looked at him in a disbelieving way and then turned back to the storm. The Slytherin decided to clarify. "Well, I saw you walk out of the Hall rather abruptly, and when the Weasel didn't follow, I figure I would take it upon myself to see if you were okay."

Hermione regarded him through narrowed eyes, but then finally decided he was telling something near to the truth. "Well that was very nice of you Malfoy, but I'm fine. I was just about to go back inside," she said as she made her way back to the Hall. "Are you coming?"

"No," Draco replied. "I think I'll just stay out here for awhile."

"Okay." Hermione said over her shoulder before walking through the doors. When she walked in, the Bloody Baron was on the stage reenacting a dramatic swordfight with just him against five other people. But Hermione wasn't paying attention to this. She was more concerned with what Ron was doing. Her gaze fell upon none other than Allison Morell talking with a certain redhead—one that already had a girlfriend. "Well, this just won't do," Hermione muttered to herself. She walked over to the table and tapped Allison on the shoulder.

"Did you lose your way, dear?" she said in a condescending tone. "The Ravenclaw table is over there." Allison blinked at her a few times, but then seemed to regain her composure.

"There's no need to get your knickers in a twist," Allison replied. "I was just talking to Ron about the upcoming Quidditch match between the Cannons and the Wasps. It turns out that we both are hopeless fans of the Cannons. But if this bothers you that much then I'll leave," and with that she walked off towards the Ravenclaw table just as the Bloody Baron was finishing up.

"Hermione!" Ron cried in strained voice. "I was just _talking_ to her! I mean I let you go off with Malfoy without saying anything,"

"That's different Ron! That's for school and you know it!" Hermione interrupted, speaking in hushed tones.

"Okay, well Allison and I are just friends. Why can't you accept that? Just because we're interested in the same things doesn't mean I'm going to go run off with her." Ron continued his voice much calmer now.

"You're right," Hermione said as she admitted defeat. "I'm sorry, Ron. I'm just afraid that I'm going to lose you or something."

"I'm not going anywhere, so stop worrying." Ron said as she kissed her temple. Just then, Dumbledore began speaking for the second time that night.

"Alright, thank you to the Hogwarts ghosts for their wonderful performances! Now, onto the second part of the surprise. We have Fred and George Weasley here and they've brought a care package for each of you filled with their new joke products!" At that moment, Fred and George, looking very snazzy indeed, strode into the Great Hall with crates and crates of packages full of joke products.

"Hello everyone!" Fred greeted them.

"We've brought just a few things for you," George continued. With a flick of his wand, the crates opened and brightly colored packages flew out to everyone in the room.

Fred piped up saying, "Inside you'll find Skiving Snackboxes, including Fainting Fancies, Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougat." Next George spoke, making it obvious they were talking alternatively, and that they had planned it.

"You'll also find our patented Canary Creams and Delectable Dyes."

"Some of our new products include Hexing Honey, just put it in someone's tea and they're hit with an assortment of jinxes and hexes, Backward Bifocals, which turn everything upside down and Tarantella Turnovers, which are self-explanatory."

"All compliments of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, located in Diagon Alley. Thank you everyone and have a Happy Halloween!" George finished up before going to the Head Table with Fred to speak with Dumbledore.

"Well, it certainly seems they're doing well for themselves," Hermione commented as she put on the Backward Bifocals. Everything was immediately thrown in reverse. Even so, she could still tell that Draco had returned the Great Hall and was once again looking at her in a pensive way. "I wish I knew what he was thinking…this is too weird," she thought to herself. "And moreover, why can't I stop thinking about him? I mean, I have everything I should want. I have a boyfriend that cares a lot about me, great friends and good grades. It's perfect…Right?" Suddenly, Hermione had the strange feeling that her world was about to be thrown upside down—and it didn't have anything to do with the glasses.

6.6.6.6

That night Hermione lay in her bed, once again thinking about Draco. "This is crazy!" she thought to herself as she tossed and turned. Finally, she fell into an uneasy sleep. Soon she was back in the same dream.

_Hermione was found herself hurtling through the Forbidden Forest, running away from something she couldn't quite see. She ran into a clearing and was about to go further when two strong arms caught her. "Get off me!" she yelled as she tried to break free._

_"Hermione, it's me," Draco's voice floated over her. "Calm down, you're okay now."  Recognizing it was him, Hermione stopped struggling and let herself collapse into the boy's arms. Somehow she knew that what he was saying was true, and that the unknown thing wasn't going to get to her now. _

_"Thank you, Draco," Hermione said in a muffled voice, owing to the fact that she was buried in the Slytherin's chest. After a few moments, the girl looked up into his grey eyes and saw something new there: comfort; security. Hermione reached up and ran her fingers through his blonde hair, finding it as soft as it looked. Then she clasped her fingers behind his neck as he put his arms around her waist. Finally, they moved closer until…_

Hermione's eyes snapped open, an incessant buzzing tearing at her eardrums. She looked up to see her hands poised on her headboard as if she had been stroking it and her face inches from her pillow. "Grr," she mumbled as she threw her bewitched alarm clock across the room, a death glare following it as it sailed through the air and landed peacefully on a pile of clothes. Quickly blinking out the throes of sleep from her chocolate brown eyes, Hermione tumbled out of bed and landed rather haphazardly on the floor. "Ouch," she said to no one in particular. "And what do you think _you're_ looking at?" she added acidly to the innocent bunny slippers that laid next to her.

The prefect picked herself up off the floor and sat back down on her bed. She laid there for a moment, cursing the morning sunlight, when bolted upright again. "Holy crap!" she said as she remembered her dream. "I almost kissed _Malfoy_! There must be some sort of logical explanation to this." The brunette thought for a moment and then muttered, "I must be under some sort of spell. Maybe the Imperious Curse or a dream invasion spell." Feeling that this must be the answer, Hermione made a mental note to research it at the library and then got ready for the day. She did her usual routine of checking up on Betty, who was still growing, and then she spent the rest of her day curled up in an armchair with her present book and an uneasy mind.

6.6.6.6

Hermione spent the next few days falling back into her usual routine of avoiding Draco and keeping herself busy. She was convinced that he had cast some sort of spell on her that made her think about him constantly and dream about him too. After that night, however, the dream never returned and the prefect found it at least a bit easier to get rest at night. She spent a lot of time with Ron, fearing again that she could lose him at any moment, and with Harry, who had been having a hard time since Sirius' death and with worrying about the upcoming battle with Voldemort. Ginny could also be seen with Harry quite a bit, which Hermione was grateful for—Ginny always seemed to have a knack with making people feel better.

This routine found her sitting by the fire one day during the second week of November. She was sitting in her favorite armchair, studying for an upcoming Potions exam in a comfortable silence with Harry and Ginny. Ron had gone to the library to study—something she was proud to see him do a lot more lately. Suddenly, Hermione shut her book and fell back on an old train of thought. "Everything is going great for me right now, so why can't I get that stupid git of a man out of my head? Seriously, it's not as if he even has a lot going for him. I mean, sure he is not bad looking, and he can have nice moments, but that's about it. He tortured me for six years, so forgetting about him should be easy. Shouldn't it?" Hermione then stood and started to walk out of the common room, feeling very confused indeed. She muttered a quick, "Going for some air" to Harry and Ginny before got out of the portrait hole and letting her feet carry her.

Not surprisingly, ten minutes later, Hermione found herself in front of the library doors. The room had always allowed the girl to clear her head, so she walked in. Figuring a talk with Ron would make her feel better; she went in search of the redhead. She found him at a table near the back with none other than Allison Morell, and they seemed to be in deep conversation. Hermione quickly ducked behind a bookshelf and spied on them, silently fuming. Sure, she felt bad for invading his privacy, but her jealousy got the better of her. She watched them talk for a few more minutes and was just about to leave when Allison suddenly leaned in and kissed Ron on the lips. When he didn't pull back, Hermione had had enough and burst out from behind the shelf.

"Just friends my big toe!" she screamed as she shot both the girl and Ron a death glare. She paused long enough to see Allison look appropriately embarrassed and a bit shocked from what she had just done. "Good, let her feel sorry for what she did to me," Hermione thought as she stormed back out of the library, in an even worse mood then what she came in with.

"'Mione, wait!" Ron called after her, but she was already half way down the corridor. She kept running, thinking this day could not get any worse, when she ran, once again, into something like a brick wall. She fell backwards and landed with a loud _thump._ She looked up and was met with a smirk. "Oh, please. _Anyone_ but you."


	7. Confrontation and a Talking Muffin

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. Please, no angry mobs.

A/N: Thank you so much for reviewing! I love you all ;) On that note, be sure to review some more! After all, that's what motivates me to write. Let's try to break 50 reviews with this one, eh?

_Confrontation and a Talking Muffin_

 "If you plan on making running into me a habit, please inform me so I can start wearing some protective layers," said Draco as he put out a hand to help Hermione to her feet. Upon closer inspection, he saw the hurt look in her eyes. "Is something wrong, Granger?"

Hermione, on her part, was still fuming at Ron and only had one intention on her mind: Run as far as you can. "Why do you care? I'm just a Mudblood after all," she replied as she turned to run. She was hindered, however, by the fact that Malfoy had placed a strong hand on her forearm. "Let go!"

"No! Not until you tell me what's wrong."

The prefect regarded him from behind narrowed eyes before she finally exploded. "Why are you here, Malfoy? I mean shouldn't you be off reading _So You Want to Be an Evil Genius_ or something? Why aren't you off tormenting someone else? Must you make _my _life miserable? Because I can assure you, someone else has already accomplished that."

Malfoy was too shocked by her outburst to say much of anything. In this moment of hesitation, Hermione wriggled free from his grasp and shot off down the hallway. "Hermione, come back!" He called after her retreating form. He knew she wouldn't stop—he hadn't really expected her too. Draco had seen the look in her eyes, and that was all he needed to understand what happened. He then turned the other way and slowly walked back to the Slytherin common room.

Both of them had been too preoccupied to even notice that he had used Hermione's given name for the first time in six years.

7.7.7.7

It was all Hermione could do to not spend all her time holed up in her room in the following days. She was determined not to give Ron the satisfaction of thinking he had hurt her that much. Instead, she carried on as if nothing had happened, with the exception of the fact that she was now avoiding a Ravenclaw, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, who happened to be one of her best friends. All she needed was a Hufflepuff to piss her off and she'd be all set. Hermione was accomplishing this feat quite well until one day when one of her "cold shoulder subjects" cornered her in the loo after classes—beginning what will soon be known as the confrontational stage.

 "Hermione, just hear me out before you go storming off," Allison said as she blocked the prefect's way. Storming off was exactly what Hermione had been planning, but she stopped anyway. She looked at the blonde expectantly.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm really not that kind of girl," Allison started. "You know the kind that steals other people's boyfriends." Hermione must have had a disbelieving expression on her face because she went on. "Really, it's true. It's just that I've liked Ron for a long time, and well I couldn't think of any way to compete with you. I mean, half the guys here want to go out with you and all the girls wish they could be like you. I guess I wanted to knock you down from your pedestal so I could prove you weren't some superhuman."

Allison stopped now, hoping to get some reaction from the older girl. Hermione, however, was still trying to digest what this girl had said. "Do people really think that much of me?" She thought to herself. Hermione reflected back on the last few months, thinking about people's reactions as she walked past or talked. Somehow, she seemed to have missed the glances from the guys and the envious looks from the girls. "I guess they do." Now, looking at Allison, the prefect supposed the girl's reasoning made sense.

"Well, I just wanted to say that I was really, really sorry and that I'll stay away from Ron," Allison interjected while Hermione was thinking. "I guess I blew it though," she added with a sad laugh. "Ron was the only guy I've found who liked the same things I did. It figures he would already have the perfect girl." With this, the green-eyed girl turned and walked away, leaving a semi-shell shocked Hermione in her wake.

"At least she had the decency to look truly sorry," Hermione muttered. "Maybe she really isn't that bad after all. I seem to be finding that out about people a lot lately." After this, the prefect also made her way out of the bathroom and started walking back to the common room, lost in her own thoughts.

After a few minutes, Hermione thought she heard footsteps behind her. She stopped and tilted her head to listen, but she heard nothing more. She started again, only to hear the footsteps again a moment later. This time, the brunette turned around and caught a flash of silvery blonde hair right before it ducked into a nearby classroom. "Malfoy," she hissed as she made her way into the classroom herself, determined to figure out why Draco was following her.

She stepped into the room and was immediately grabbed from behind by the aforementioned Slytherin. "Malfoy, why are you following me?" Hermione said in a somewhat tired tone, not even bothering to turn around. "I'm sick of all these games you play."

"Listen, Mudblood," said a harsh voice that most definitely was not Draco Malfoy's, but his father's instead. "I want you to stay away from Draco; you can finish this inconsequent little project yourself. If I hear you have been spending any more time with him, there will be hell to pay. Now, are we understood?" Hermione, who had been standing stock-still, simply nodded before being released by Lucius. "Good," he spat before turning on his heel and walking away.

Hermione stood there for a few moments waving her arms around with a confused expression. She did this whenever she was at a loss for words, and couldn't figure out exactly what had happened. Finally she exasperatedly whispered, "Holy hell" before walking out and making her way once again to the Gryffindor common room, with a considerable amount more to think about.

7.7.7.7

Hermione took the long way back to the common room and used this time to think about what exactly she wanted to do about Ron. One part of her wanted to forgive him, and another part wanted to just forget him and move on. As she reached the Gryffindor tower, however, she realized she really wouldn't have much of a say in this matter.

"'Mione!" Ron called as soon as the prefect appeared in the portrait hole. "Wait, I just want to talk to you for a minute."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," she said to herself before making her way over to the redhead. "What could you _possibly _have to say to me?"

"Sit down," Ron said. When the brunette made no move whatsoever to do just that, he continued. "Well, I've been thinking and…" He was cut off at this point by the derisive snort that came from Hermione, which clearly said _You, thinking? _Ron decided to ignore this and went on. "As I said, I've been thinking about this whole Allison thing, and I've decided that you really don't deserve this. I mean, if I can be tempted into cheating on you, I really shouldn't be with you. I'm sorry, Hermione." With this, the youngest Weasley son walked away with a remorseful expression.

"Did he just break up with _me?!_" Hermione thought frantically. "He cheats on me, but he gets the satisfaction of breaking up with me? I _cannot _believe that git!" At this, the prefect let out a stream of incomprehensible words before turning on her heel and walking right back out of the common room.

Ten minutes later found Hermione at the library, her one true sanctuary. Even after she caught Ron and Allison, this was still her favorite place to sit and think. She found a table in the back and sat down to do her homework. After all, no matter how crazy her personal life got, Hermione always found a way to get all of her homework done and still get top marks on it. She commenced to do this for the next twenty-one minutes (she'd counted) until a voice startled her out of her current state.

"Well, well, well. Look at Granger. Always the studious one," Draco Malfoy said in a sneering voice. Actually, it was a mock-sneering voice because he really couldn't manage the real thing around Hermione anymore. She looked up and immediately covered her face with her hands.

"This can't be happening to me," she muttered to herself from behind her hands. "If I just close my eyes like this for awhile, he will not see me and just go away." So, the prefect continued to do this until she thought Malfoy had finally given up and gone elsewhere. However, when she glanced up, she was met with one very confused Draco, who had spent the time trying to figure out whether or not Hermione had truly gone insane.

"Okay…well I just wanted to come by and see if we could set up another meeting for the project," the Slytherin spoke up after a few moments.

Hermione sighed and was about to say yes when she remembered Lucius' warning. Suddenly, she started gathering her things and replied, "No, Malfoy. I'm taking over this project from now on. I don't need some ferret boy helping me to get the grade. I can handle it alone." She started to make her way out of the library.

"Wait," Draco said as he caught her arm. She drew in a sharp breath when he did this, but he didn't seem to notice. "I thought we came to a truce, why are you acting like this?"

"Why the hell do you care? I'm just a Mudblood after all," Hermione retorted.

By now, Draco was starting to build up an anger that matched Hermione's. "That's right," he said in a low voice. "You are." With this, he stormed out of the library. Hermione was left behind, trying to quell a confusing wave a guilt that was building inside her.

7.7.7.7

The next few days passed in a blur of confusion, tension and an overload of homework for Hermione. Though, to be fair, all of the sixth years had an overload of homework due to the teacher's crazy notion that since the N.E.W.T.s were a year away, it was only natural to start preparing now. Hermione kept to herself, not really wanting to confront the fact she was slightly hurt by Ron, utterly confused by Draco and not as mad as she should be at Allison. Thankfully, Saturday morning brought a promising reprieve from all of this. This was, of course, the day of the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch game.

"Hermione, wake up!" said an embodied voice that shook the prefect awake. Hermione slowly opened her eyes to see a blurred bit of red hair.

 "Hmm," she thought to herself. "This can be one of two people. But considering they are not currently lying at the bottom of the staircase, it must be…Hello Ginny." Obviously, she said the last part out loud, owing to the fact that Ginny was not a mind reader, as far as anyone knew.

"C'mon! It's almost time for the match!" Ginny replied as she moved back to the door of the dormitory. "I have to go down already—Harry wants to check out conditions before we start."

Hermione grumbled to a certain extent as she pulled herself out of her bed. She looked out the window and saw nothing but clear skies. "Harry should be happy about that," she muttered as she collected her things for a shower. The brunette proceeded to do her normal grooming routine before she got dressed and headed down to breakfast.

As she reached the Great Hall, she caught the eyes of a one Draco Malfoy. The orbs were like cold steel and it made Hermione shudder. She decided against sitting down and eating so she grabbed some toast and headed straight to the Quidditch pitch. She climbed the stairs to the top row and sat down for what was sure to be an exciting game.

More people were starting to fill the stands when Hermione happened to glance up and see Lucius Malfoy sitting next to Professor Snape. "No doubt trying to scope out the competition for Draco," she thought as she watched him whisper something in the Potions Master's ear. Just then, Draco himself climbed the stair and sat down next to his father. Finally, Dean's voice cut in when everyone had settled themselves.

"Hello, everyone! Today's game is sure to present itself to be positively enthralling!" he said, getting quite a few blank stares from the Slytherins and a chuckle from everyone else. "Okay, so let's kick this monkey and get on with it!" With this comment, however, everyone had a blank stare. Dean went on unfazed though, "Coming out now we have the Hufflepuff Team led by Keeper and Captain Parker; Chasers Abbot, Bones, and Bailey; Beaters Finch-Fletchley and Macmillan; and finally Seeker Smith!" The crowd erupted in applause and cheers as they all landed on the pitch.

"Next out we have the Gryffindor Team led by Seeker and Captain Potter; Chasers Weasley, Creevy and Brown; Beaters Finnigan and Mitchell; and finally Keeper Weasley!" Another tumultuous applause ripped through the stadium as the team flew once around and landed near the Hufflepuffs.

"Now, I want a clean game," Madam Hooch said. "Captains, shake hands." Harry shook hands with the short brunette in front of him. "Ok, now on my whistle. One, two…"

"And they're off! Gryffindor is in possession with Weasley handling the Quaffle. She flies down the pitch, passing to Creevy. Creevy flies to the goals and gets it past Parker nicely. 10-0 Gryffindor. Hufflepuff in possession now, Abbot flies down, she passes to Bones, who passes to Bailey. Bailey flies to the left—oh! Nice fake out. Bailey flies to the right and scores! Teams are tied at 10-10. Brown takes the Quaffle…" Dean continued to commentate as Harry circled above. The Gryffindors had just scored again, and he was confident in the way he had trained his team, so he really wasn't too worried about paying close attention. All of his thoughts were on finding a hint of gold.

"We're going to win," Harry thought to himself. "I mean, Hufflepuff is a pushover. They remind me of push-pops. Man, those are good little tubes of ice cream…" The Seeker then continued to think of push-pops and other equally good frozen treats for the next few minutes. Unfortunately, as these thoughts danced about in his head, he didn't hear Dean screaming a very important something.

"SMITH HAS SPOTTED THE SNITCH! Potter seems to be in some sort of trance! Smith speeds towards the racing ball and is almost there! WAKE UP HARRY!" Dean shouted at the top of his lungs. Only then did the Boy Who Lived hear his name and realize what was going on.

"Crap!" Harry said as he flew off towards Zacharias. He quickly caught up, thanks to his trusty Firebolt. The two boys raced side-by-side as they chased after the Snitch. They both reached out, and just when one of them was about to close their hand around the struggling ball…

"OUCH! Smith has just been hit by a Bludger, sent his way by Finnigan!" Dean shouted over the groan of the Hufflepuffs. This event, however, temporarily distracted Harry—enough to make him stall on catching the Snitch.

"HA!" The Gryffindor yelled as he watched Zacharias. Harry was never a big fan of the kid, after all. His train of thought was interrupted just then by the fact that the other speeding Bludger was coming directly at him. "Poo…"

"Potter does an amazing rollover to dodge the Bludger sent by Macmillan," Dean said, the Gryffindors groaning this time. During this move, Harry was completely disoriented and lost sight of the Snitch altogether. "Okay, well the game continues now. Hufflepuff is in possession with Bailey speeding down the pitch, passing to Bones. Bones swerves around a Bludger, but the Quaffle is intercepted by Ginny Weasley!" Cheers erupted through the stadium as the youngest Weasley passed to Colin, who passed to Brown, who then, in turn, passed back to Ginny in a tight formation. "Weasley flies towards Parker, she shoots and…" Dean was cut off then by Professor McGonagall, because he had cussed rather rudely as Ginny's toss was cut off by an incredible save made by Mary Parker. "Score remains at 20-10 Gryffindor," Dean ended sadly.

This save, however, did not dishearten the Gryffindor players. Lavender quickly regained possession of the Quaffle. "Brown, Creevy, and Weasley continue in their routine, passing to each other and leaving no room for someone to steal the Quaffle. Brown to Creevy, Creevy back to Brown," Dean commentated through the bewitched microphone. Soon the players' tactics became too swift, so he just shouted names. "Brown, Weasley, Creevy, Weasley, Creevy, Brown, Creevy who takes it down the pitch, heading straight to the middle hoop! Ah! He flips it back to Brown who sends it sailing through the left hoop! Score stands as 30-10 to Gryffindor!" Dean shouted over the cheers coming from the Gryffindor section. "You know this reminds me of a joke I heard the other day," Dean started, getting a warning glance from McGonagall. He pushed on unfazed though. "So there are two muffins in an oven. The first muffin says, 'Man, it's hot in here!' and then the second muffin says, 'Oh my gosh! A talking muffin!'"

This sent everyone into a stunned silence. Crickets everywhere could be heard. Ginny, who seemed to be unaffected by her recently ex-boyfriend's jokes, scored three more times without anyone noticing. I.Q.'s dropped by the second. Even Lucius Malfoy's brow furrowed a bit more—a strong emotion for such a man. Finally, Dean's own chuckle broke the crowd out of their paralyzed state.

"So, anywho," he continued, wiping a tear from his eye. "Ginny seems to have scored setting the points at 60-10 to Gryffindor. Ok, Hufflepuff has the Quaffle n…Wait a second…Potter has seen the Snitch!"

Sure enough, Harry was now hurtling towards the ground after a certain shiny something. Smith was still slightly stupid from the very bad joke, and reacted a little too slowly. He tried to catch up with Harry, but his broom was no match for the Firebolt. "C'mon you little bugger," Harry whispered to himself as he caught up to the Snitch. "Come to papa." And come to papa the Snitch did, proven by the fact that Harry's hand was firmly clasped around it.

"YES!" Dean yelled exuberantly as Gryffindors rushed on the field. "Gryffindor wins 210-10! The Gryffindors are screaming like they want a truckload of ice cream!" Everyone was too excited and happy to even register this comment—one that would surely render them befuddled. After all, they all wanted to get to the after party in the Gryffindor common room.

7.7.7.7

Draco Malfoy was sitting sulkily with his father, waiting for the latter's carriage to arrive. "Well it looks as if you've got your work cut out for you, Draco," Lucius said in the usual drawl. "I will not have you be beaten by that Potter again. And stand up straight."

Draco obeyed his father's admonishment, but remained reserved. He was still thinking about Hermione and why she acted like she did. Not that he cared, of course. "Yes, Father," he said, not really listening. He snapped to attention, however, at the mention of a certain girl's name. "What?"

"Really, Draco. I said at least you don't have to worry about that Mudblood Granger any more."

Draco tensed and said, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Lucius looked contemplative for a second then spoke. "Let's just say I…strongly suggested that she stay away from you and continue the project herself."

Inside his head, Draco was thinking furiously. "So _that's _why she was acting so strange. My father must have threatened her. That is so typical of him. I need to reverse this, because he would surely have spies looking after us. I can't let him see that I care, though." Out loud, Draco said, "Father, I appreciate you helping me contain her, but I really can handle it. Besides, I wouldn't want to get a grade on work I didn't even do. You're the one who always says, 'A real man earns what he gets.'"

Lucius thought about this for a moment then said, "Very well, Draco. You can continue working on this little project, and I will tell my people to leave you alone. Just be careful, you could get her filth on you." At this time, the carriage came up and the driver stepped out to open the door for Lucius. He stepped in and said, "Goodbye, son."

"Goodbye, Father," Draco replied as he thought of way to get back into Hermione's good graces. He shuddered to think at what sort of public humiliation would be required to do this.

A/N: The "perfect girl" line that Allison says is from some movie I'm sure, I just can't remember which. Virtual cookies to those who can tell me. And to those who review. J


	8. Announcements and Singing Teapots

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be out making other people feel bad. (Just kidding—the making people feel bad part. I really don't own Harry Potter.)

A/N: Thanks, as per usual, for reviewing—virtual cookies to you all. Charlie's Angels! HA! That's where the perfect girl line is from, so cookie to me too. Oh, and sorry this took so long, it's been crazy at my house.

_Announcements and Singing Teapots_

Harry was a very confused boy.

Almost a man, really, but still utterly confused. The party had just cleared out, and he was currently sitting on the couch in front of the fire, simply thinking. He had been noticing lately that Hermione was acting very…strange. This also usually whenever the subject of Malfoy came up. Very strange indeed.

"Maybe there is something going on between them?" Harry though. But, just as quickly, he threw out the idea as ridiculous and continued. "Well maybe she's still upset because Ron dumped her. The prat. I'd kick his arse if he wasn't my best friend." He was so deep within his musings that he didn't see Ginny come down from the girl's staircase. It was only when she came over to get a book from the coffee table in front of him that he even acknowledged her presence.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Ginny asked with slight concern in her voice. After all, the raven-haired boy had his face all scrunched up as if in deep thought. Well, he was, but she didn't know that—thus her concern.

"Hmm?" he said absentmindedly. "Oh, yes. I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Okay, then. Well I'm just going to head up to bed now. Goodnight, Harry."

"'Night, Ginny," he replied after her retreating form.

And that was another thing: Ginny. Harry really had no idea how he felt about her. One part of him wanted to take things to the next level and become her boyfriend, but the other part was hesitant. Harry really didn't want any more people he cared about being hurt by Voldemort. Sirius had already died…what if that was Ginny? Or Hermione? Or Ron? The sixteen-year old just really couldn't handle this thought.

Voldemort. The day that he would have to face the Dark Lord grew nearer with every passing day. Harry knew he would have to ultimately be the one to face him, but that didn't make it any easier. All of his friends were in danger just being around him. "I won't let him take them from me," Harry promised himself. "I won't."

So these were the thoughts spinning their way behind Harry's emerald eyes. Hermione acting like she didn't mind Malfoy. Ron being a stupid prat he is. Ginny being so goddamn nice to him, even though he knew nothing could ever develop. Voldemort ruining his life and being the evil, twisted _thing _that everyone knew him as. And of course, there was always the tell-tale question of where milk came from.

Harry was a very confused boy.

8.8.8.8

On Monday morning, Hermione woke up with something that could be called a headache to the average person, but to the prefect it would be more accurately labeled "rampaging elephants running on her brain." Okay, so maybe this was overdoing it a bit, but if it were you, you'd say the same thing. As Hermione lay there, thinking about trying not to think, Lavender came bounding in with her usual cheeriness.

"Wake up sunshine!" she said in a sing-song voice as she jumped on the pseudo-dying brunette's bed. "Dumbledore is making some sort of announcement today and I want to get down to breakfast!"

"Ugh…ger if mek, Lavnderr," came the muffled voice of Hermione, owing to the fact that she was sick—and of course because Lavender was smothering her.

"What?" Lavender asked as she got off of the bed.

"I said, get off me, Lavender," Hermione replied as she pulled the covers tighter around her. "And I'm sick today so go away."

"Sick? With what?" she asked as she felt the prefect's head. "You don't have a fever."

"I have a headache, thank you very much," Hermione retorted. "And I would very much like it if you would just leave."

"A headache? Well that can be fixed," Lavender pointed her wand at Hermione's head and muttered a healing spell. "There, better now?"

Hermione did indeed feel better, but she didn't want to admit it. "Why hadn't I thought of that?" she wondered. Finally, she nodded her head and proceeded to get out of bed. "What is Dumbledore supposed to be announcing?" she said as she pulled on her school robes and pulled her hair up into a knot.

"No one knows," Lavender replied. "But I do hope it involves shopping for something!" After this statement, she flitted out of the room and down the stairs, no doubt heading to the Great Hall.

"Shopping!" Hermione muttered to herself in a sarcastic voice. "Fun, fun." Grumbling, she too made her way out into the common room. There she met Harry, who was oddly devoid of Ron.

"Hey," he said with a smile. "I was waiting for you before I went down to breakfast. Ron has already gone down."

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione voiced, returning the smile and choosing to ignore the fact that he had mentioned that particular Weasley to her. "I hear Dumbledore is supposed to make some sort of announcement. What do you think it could be about?"

"I dunno," Harry said as they made their way out of the portrait hole and to the Great Hall. "I hope it's nothing bad though."

"Me too."

8.8.8.8

"Ladies and gentlemen, could I have your attention, please?" Dumbledore's booming voice said as soon as everyone had finished their eggs, bacon, muffins and overall yummy goodness. "As some of you may have heard, I do have an announcement for you, and I do hope you all will be as excited for this as I am." At this, everyone leaned forward or bounced in obvious anticipation. "So without further ado, I am happy to say that we have planned a Christmas Masquerade!" Many girls squealed in delight at this, but none louder that Lavender.

"Ooh! Hermione I _told_ you it would have something to do with shopping!" she squealed as Dumbledore started to speak again.

"Now, even though it is a Masquerade, masks really aren't required. Costumes are highly encouraged, but dress robes will be fine for those who do not wish to participate. The ball is open to fourth years and above. I have also arranged for a Hogsmeade visit to happen next Saturday. Enjoy everyone!" he said finally as he sat back down. A buzz went up through the Hall as everyone made their way to lessons, primarily about the ball and secondarily about the Hogsmeade visit. There was also a bit of yesterday's Quidditch match thrown in among the guys.

"Ugh," Hermione said for the second time that morning. "A ball? I hate those…" she thought as she made her way to lessons. "Although, the last one _was _rather fun. But who will I go with? What will I go as?" The brunette proceeded to think these things for the better part of the morning and was only broken out of her semi-reverie when she got to the day's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.

8.8.8.8

"Alright, everyone, settle down," Nymphadora Tonks said as all the Slytherins and Gryffindors sat down at their desks. "Today we will be learning about Veiling Spells. They are closely related to the Disillusionment Charm, but highly more effective for when you are in the field. Who can tell me why?"

Hermione was paying close attention now, because she had read all about these spells in _Modern Defense Techniques and Theories _for a bit of light reading over the summer. She raised her hand to Tonks' question and then answered. "They are very useful, especially to Aurors since they did a lot of field work, because they not only veil you but also any area around you that you specify. They are untraceable and undetectable, even to the most advanced radar."

"Very good, Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor," Tonks said as she moved on. "So today we will be practicing the spell in partners. You will have to be able to successfully veil you, your partner, and a desk. Choose your partners now."

Harry and Ron partnered up. "Who would have guessed?" Hermione said bitterly under her breath. She looked around quickly for another partner. Lavender and Parvati had gotten together, which took away both of Hermione's other prospects. Dean and Seamus had gotten together, which left Hermione with no other choice but Neville. He walked up to her.

"Hullo, Hermione. D'you want to be partners?" he asked as he fidgeted with his wand.

Hermione put on a smile and said, "Sure, Neville. Let's get this desk." They moved over to the last spare desk and then waited for further instructions from Professor Tonks.

"Okay," Nymphadora said once everyone found a partner. "Now the incantation is fairly simple, but the wand movement might be a bit tricky for some of you," here she looked pointedly at Neville. "The movement is similar to the 'swish and flick' of levitation, but more of a 'swish and jab.' Now everyone try this with me." They continued to practice the swish and jab technique for the next few minutes. As suspected, Neville _did_ have trouble, especially with the jabbing part. He had successfully managed to poke himself in the eye, though. Thankfully for him, and for all mankind, he got his jabs under control and was able to make the movement.

"Now that everyone has got that down, let's move on to the actual spell. The spell is in two parts. First, you must take your wand and draw an imaginary circle around the place you want to veil. Second, you do the 'swish and jab' while saying _Velamen_. Does everyone have that?" After several nods of assent, Tonks moved on. "To unveil yourself and your area, say _Leva velamen_. Now get with your partner and we'll spend the rest of class period working on this."

Hermione turned towards Neville and asked, "Would you like me to go first?" He looked thoroughly grateful and nodded. The prefect closed her eyes and took a moment to get her bearings. When she opened them, Neville was looking apprehensive. "Relax," she told him. "I know what I'm doing." Then she drew a circle around the desk, Neville and herself. With that finished she closed her eyes and clearly said, "_Velamen_" while moving her wand in the right motion. After this she opened her eyes, but wasn't sure if it had worked. But then she realized that people were looking right past her and Neville. "Of course," she muttered. "We can see them, but they can't see us. _Leva velamen._" With this they reappeared and Tonks clapped and said, "Very good, Miss Granger. Take another ten points for Gryffindor!"

The rest of the class was slightly miffed by Hermione getting it on her first try. The only other person to achieve this was Draco Malfoy. In the end, most everyone had successfully done it, though some people were given extra homework—including Neville, Crabbe, Goyle, Harry and Ron. Neville kept getting scared and always ended up poking himself with his wand. Crabbe and Goyle were just too stupid to remember the incantations, but no one really expected much more from them anyway. Harry and Ron simply couldn't get everything veiled. Harry could veil him and Ron, but not the desk. Ron simply couldn't achieve anything in its entirety—there were always little bits (an arm, a leg) that wouldn't be veiled completely. Nevertheless, Hermione thought it was a wonderful lesson, and most people had to agree.

When the bell rang, Hermione hung back to talk to Professor Tonks about advanced Veiling Spells and how she had read that they could, in theory, be used to veil whole countries. They continued discussing this for about ten minutes before Hermione decided that she had better get down to lunch before Harry and Ginny started to worry about her. She was, however, detained further by a person that waited for her outside the classroom.

"Hermione," Draco said as she walked out.

"Get away from me, Malfoy," she said, choosing not to play his game and use his real name. "I thought I told you I could handle this alone." She started to walk away, but Draco grabbed her arm.

"Wait," he said, and much to his surprise, she did. "Look, I know my father threatened you and told you to stay away from me, but you don't have to worry about him. He knows that I don't let people do all the work for me, and I'm not about to let you finish this project on your own. I can assure you that I am just as attached to Betty as you are. So what about a meeting tomorrow night at seven in the Charms room?"

Hermione regarded him from behind narrowed eyes, and wondered if she could really trust him. "How do you I know you're not just trying to lure me into some kind of trap?" she said.

"Well," Draco replied. "I thought that regaining your trust—or some semblance of what we had before—wouldn't be easy." He took a deep breath and then continued. "So, I am fully prepared to do whatever you ask of me to get that trust thing back." Then after a moment he added, "Even if it is totally humiliating."

The brunette thought about this for a minute before a slow smile came onto her face. "Anything?" she asked, wicked glint in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Anything." Malfoy responded.

"Seven tomorrow it is then," Hermione replied. "And don't be late." She started to walk away, already formulating a plan, when Draco stopped her.

"I just hope that _maybe _you'll go easy on me?" he said, the words coming out as more of a question than a statement.

Hermione simply looked at him and then in a condescending tone said, "Mr. Malfoy, what do you take me for? An amateur?" Smirking, she sauntered off without a backward glance.

8.8.8.8

That night Hermione worked furiously. Well, not really furiously because she was only making one thing, but being crafty was one thing that Hermione Granger did not excel at, so she had to work with a bit more fervor than such a thing would usually require.

"Yes!" she said aloud when she finally finished. Everyone else in her dorm had gone to bed but she stayed up to complete the aforementioned secret something. See, she had done all of this to make Malfoy pay. Not pay with money, oh no, pay with almost certain humiliation, on his part.

Hermione had contemplated publicly humiliating dear Draco, but then decided against it. No, what she had planned would only serve to amuse her, and everyone else would just think it a bit odd. Besides, she planned to take away the one thing that Draco held dearest to his heart: dignity.

"Yes," the brunette said again. "Revenge shall be sweet." With this she gave a wicked little cackle, and promptly started choking on a bit of yarn that had been floating about.

8.8.8.8

 The next Draco awoke bright and early—much to his dismay, of course. The fact was that he couldn't sleep, not when he knew that Hermione would somehow humiliate him at seven. He didn't know how, but it was still pretty frickin scary nonetheless.

"Just don't let me die," he said to no one in particular. Draco pulled himself out of bed and went to take a shower, remembering of course to take his rubber ducky with him. "What would I do without you, little buddy?" he whispered to it. The ducky just sat in all its yellowness and smiled benignly. Draco sighed and he commenced with his showering ways.

When he had finished, Draco solemnly made his way down to the Great Hall. As he wound his way from the dungeons through the corridors, he reached out and touched certain landmarks—the stone gargoyle that reminded him of Satan, various torch brackets (all of which giving him a lovely burn) and the rough-hewn stones of the walls. In fact, if anyone were to see the grey-eyed Slytherin, they would think that he was a person facing imminent death. "You'll never look the same to me," he sighed as he finally reached the towering wooden doors. Stepping in, he said, "Good-bye, old friends."

Draco sat down at his usual place between Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table. He looked down at his plate of bacon, eggs and little sausage links. "My last meal," he thought as he dug in. (Technically, he still had both lunch and dinner, but he obviously was not thinking quite clearly.) He savored each bite, wondering what will become of him. "Well, maybe I am overreacting just a _bit_." At this moment, he looked up at the Gryffindor table. Hermione caught his eye and gave him an insolent smirk. He gulped and looked away. "Then again…"

8.8.8.8

Hermione giggled to herself as she watched Draco throughout the day. He had a glazed look in his eyes and was moving much slower than his Seeker reflexes should ever allow. "I bet he thinks I'm leading him to his death," she thought with a smirk. "Then again, I suppose I am leading him to a death of sorts." Again she laughed as she took notes in class. She could barely wait until the meeting tonight, as it would finally be a time when she could get the infamous Draco Malfoy back for the six years of hell he put her through.

That night at dinner, Hermione watched Draco carefully. He was pale—well, paler than usual—and he was barely touching his food. "He really is overreacting," she muttered, more out loud than she had intended.

"What was that?" Harry said through a mouthful mashed potatoes. Hermione looked up, stunned, and then had to think of something quick.

"Oh, I just said that the snow should be good for packing," she replied as she gestured to the late November sky. It was milk-white and obviously laden with a promising snowfall.

"Yea, it should be great!" Ron interjected from beside Harry. Hermione, who still refused to speak to him, leaned around Harry and looked at him. Ron gave her a small smile, as if he didn't know whether or not it was allowed. To both their surprises, Hermione smiled back.

"I really should forget my silly grudge," she thought to herself as she passed a bowl of corn to Lavender. "Everyone makes mistakes after all." From this moment on, Ron and Hermione had an unspoken agreement not to mention Allison anymore and that they wouldn't let another person come between their friendship.

When the plates and tables were cleared, Hermione excused herself and strode over to the Slytherin table. She was met with many Death Glares, but she was entirely unfazed by them. She found Draco and leaned in close to his ear. "Seven o' clock, Draco. That's in one hour. Don't be late." With this, the brunette tossed her hair and headed out of the Great Hall, feeling thoroughly pleased with herself. "He won't know what hit him."

8.8.8.8

At six forty-five, Hermione left the common room with Betty and a nondescript brown bag in tow. Of course, the item in the brown bag wasn't so nondescript, but only Hermione knew this tidbit of information. She giggled to herself yet _again_, which really was abnormal for her, considering that she most never showed such girly displays of emotion. After making a mental note to research giggling tendencies among female teens, she sauntered into the Charms classroom where she found Draco Malfoy sitting in a chair, looking decidedly nervous.

"Hello, Malfoy," she said in icy tones. "It's always a pleasure."

Draco managed to squeak out a "Hi" before retreating to his state of, well, reserve. Hermione, as per usual, took the initiative.

"Right, so Betty is doing pretty well, though you can tell that she is about to give birth," she started; gesturing to the kneazle that lay snuggled up in her arms. "I figured today we could just take some more measurements and stats, and then monitor any behavior that might indicate her preparing for the babies."

Draco seemed to snap to attention at this, probably because his humiliation would be postponed. "Sounds good to me," he said as he moved closer to Hermione. "Here, I'll take her." He picked Betty out of the prefect's arms and was immediately hit by how _heavy _she was, but didn't show any outward emotion about it. They went to work and passed most of the time in a semi-comfortable silence. Draco kept stealing suspicious glances at the paper bag. Hermione kept stealing glances at Draco stealing glances at the bag, which made her feel quite smug indeed.

At the end of the hour, the two sixteen-year-olds had three rolls of parchment filled with precise notes and a very content kneazle. "Well," Hermione said, breaking the silence. "I suppose I've had Betty for long enough, and it's only fair that you get a chance to take her…so here." She put the almost asleep creature in a box and handed it to Draco. "Remember to follow the diet, and if anything happens, owl me right away."

Draco nodded and took the box. "Now," she continued. "It is time for your almost certain humiliation." Malfoy blanched, but nodded again anyway. He would take this like a man. Hermione went over to the brown paper bag and picked it up. She opened the bag and pulled out a hot pink tea cozy that she had knitted. She handed it to Malfoy and said, "Put it on."

Draco stared at it, then at her, looking positively horrified. "Go on," she urged. "Put it on." Taking a deep breath, the Slytherin King, put the hot pink tea cozy on his perfectly slicked back head. Blushing just a bit, he looked up and stared at Hermione. She was barely containing herself. "Okay, now I want you to sing 'I'm a Little Teapot' with the motions and everything."

The blonde boy started to retort, but decided it was simply better just to do it. Of course he knew the Little Teapot song, seeing as his mother made him learn it when he was a child (against his father's wishes) in order for him to develop his "self-identity."  He shuddered at the memory and then slowly started singing. "I'm a little teapot, short and stout; here is my handle," here, Draco put his hand on his hip—an unmistakable handle. "Here is my spout. (An outstretch of the other arm did the trick.) When I get all steamed up hear me shout 'tip me over and pour me out!'" To finish it off, he tipped himself to the side, as if pouring out tea, and then bowed.

Hermione, needless to say, was positively _howling _with laughter. This only served to make Draco even more embarrassed. After a few moments, she started to sniff at the air, as if she caught a whiff of something. Draco was thoroughly disturbed, but didn't say anything as he was still wearing the tea cozy and was very much so embarrassed. Finally, she spoke. "Wait…what's that I smell? Oh, yes. It's the collapse of Draco Malfoy's world. Well done, Draco. Well done." With this, she strode out of the classroom, leaving a stunned Malfoy in her wake.

"Well, at least it wasn't public," Draco sighed as he took of the hat. He picked up Betty and walked out after Hermione. What he didn't know was that the brunette had secretly recorded him singing, and could use it for blackmail at any time she wanted.  

A/N: Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking…maybe. Yes, I realize dances and whatnot are so overdone, but plot device people. Plot device. Be sure to review!


	9. Surprises and French Murmurs

A/N: YAY! I broke 50 reviews! Thanks so much people! Sorry that this one took awhile, but it's really long for me, so I hope you enjoy it. Remember to review!

_Surprises and French Murmurs_

The morning of the Hogsmeade visit just happened to be December first, which also just happened to be a Saturday, and also, consequently, the day after Friday, which was surprisingly the day of the first snowfall. Of course, since it was indeed the first snowfall, Ron _insisted _on playing in the snow and starting a huge snowball fight. Since it was Hogwarts, the snowball fight was nowhere near normal and involved practically the whole school. In a word, it was crazy. However, the snowball fight itself was not what Hermione was thinking about when she awoke this particular morning.

She was, as it were, thinking about how she really didn't want to go shopping with a certain redheaded Weasley in Hogsmeade. She knew that Ginny would drag her around to all the stores, forcing her to try on ridiculous costumes and/or dresses for the Christmas Masquerade. Just then, the redhead in question bounded into the room.

"Good morning!" Ginny chirped in her best impression of an opera singer. "It's time to go shopping!"

"Oh, joy," the brunette muttered to herself as she shut her eyes and pulled the blankets tightly around her. However, Ginny had different plans for the covers and ripped them off of Hermione, who screamed, "Hey!"

"Come _on_," the youngest Weasley said in a slightly exasperated voice. "I want to get there before everyone takes all of the good costumes!" After tugging on the older girl's arm for the next few minutes, the latter finally acquiesced.

"Merg…" Hermione mumbled incoherently. "Fine! I'm up! Now go away."

"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Ginny replied cheerily before skipping out of the dorm singing the last single from the Weird Sisters.

 Hermione simply stared after her and then looked at her alarm clock. "Seven thirty?! On a Saturday?!" She groaned. "I will never figure out how she has so much energy this early in the morning." The prefect spent the next few moments in a violent struggle with her sheets before she finally untangled herself. She then proceeded to take a much needed shower, which also served to wake her up a bit more.

When she was done, Hermione got dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and a blue sweater. She looked at herself in the mirror and then steeled herself for the inevitable day of meandering through different shops and boutiques. "You can do this, Granger," she whispered to herself before finally making her way down to the common room at eight.

"Merlin!" Ginny shouted as Hermione walked down the steps. "Did you drown?!"

"Ha, ha," Hermione retorted sarcastically. "Can we just go now?"

"Not until you at least pretend to be excited about this."

"Yippee! Shopping nonstop for hours and hours and losing brain cells at the same time! Where do I sign up?!" Hermione replied in an overly cheery voice. "Happy now?"

"Very," Ginny voiced as she smiled cheekily. "Now let's go!"

And go they did—all the way down to Hogsmeade, having decided that they could just grab a scone and some tea at Madam Puddifoot's later on. Ginny, as expected, dragged Hermione into every clothes and dress shop they could find in Hogsmeade, including one that was called "Las Cabras Locas" that specialized in Spanish bullfighting uniforms. ("I'm not even going to ask," Hermione mumbled to Ginny as they walked out of this particular store.) Ginny would force Hermione to try on several different and in the latter's opinion, ridiculous, dresses. Then, without fail, they would leave every shop empty-handed.

"Ginny," the brunette spoke up after they left the fifth shop. "Why don't you just accept the fact that you're not going to find what you want in any shops in Hogsmeade? Why don't we just go back and forget it?"

Ginny gasped and looked positively offended at this remark. "Forget it?! Are you crazy? Of course we're not going to _forget it._ I am going to find the perfect dress if it is the last thing I do." She then promptly stomped off in search of the next store.

Hermione rolled her eyes and was about to follow when a thought occurred to her. She quickly caught up to the bounding redhead and stopped her. "Who are you going to the dance with anyhow?"

"Oh," the Weasley girl said as she blushed. "Well…Harry, actually."

"Harry!? Since when?"

"Since yesterday when he asked me after the snowball fight. He was really cute about it—you know, stammering and the likes." The young girl then started giggling like mad, as if on cue. Hermione, however, did not have the ability to giggle (her mother often said that she needed to go to "Giggling School") and would have joined in if she could.

"Wow," Hermione breathed after a moment. "That's great!" She then complied to look in two more stores before they left for the day, abandoning all hope.

 They looked again fruitlessly in one store before finally finding a shop that was promising. The storefront window had many medieval style dresses on display, all of which were very reasonably priced.

"Mon Cher," Ginny muttered as she read the sign. "Let's try it out."

"It means 'My dear' in French," Hermione clarified, having been quite fluent in the language.

They walked into the store as a tiny bell rang above them. Ginny had just begun to wander about when a short, slightly round-about-the-middle lady came up to them. "Hello, dears," she said. "My name is Marie. Welcome to Mon Cher! Can I help you with anything?"

Hermione, who decided that this Marie character was quite nice indeed, said, "Well, we are looking for dresses to wear to a Christmas Masquerade up at Hogwarts. Or, at least she is." After this, she pointed to Ginny, who seemed to be immersed in a particularly pretty white dress. Marie saw this and walked over.

"This is one of the newer time period dresses, dating to about 1870. The material is satin and the embroidery is hand stitched. Would you like to try it on?"

Ginny looked over the dress again and whispered, "Yes, please," She went into a dressing room and emerged a few moments later saying, "I love it!" The dress was a pearly-white color with a pale green underlay and gold embroidery around the collar and bottom. The sleeves were tight until the elbow until it draped down, revealing the green underlay, which went on until her wrists. It hugged Ginny's small waist perfectly and the scooped neckline showed off her freckled shoulders.

"Ginny! You look great!" Hermione squealed in a very girly way. "You should definitely get it!"

"Yes," the younger girl said as she looked in the mirror. "I think I will! How much is it?"

"It's twenty galleons," Marie said. Ginny's face fell—she didn't have that much money. Marie seemed to sense this because she voiced, "But I can let you rent this one for six galleons. And only because you look so pretty in it."

"Oh, thank you!" Ginny screamed as she hugged the shopkeeper. "You just made my day!" She then rounded on Hermione. "Now we have to find you something."

Hermione groaned. "But Ginny…" However, the girl simply ignored her and went about poking through various dresses. Finally, she seemed to find one she liked. She handed it to Hermione with the instructions to try it on. The brunette took it into the dressing room and stared at it for awhile. "Oh, what can it hurt?" A few minutes later she stepped out. Both Ginny and Marie gasped at what they saw. "I knew it," Hermione muttered. "I look stupid."

"No!" Ginny interjected. "It looks absolutely _perfect _on you! You have to get it!"

Hermione gave herself a once-over before deciding. "Okay…I will." With this, both girls made their purchases and walked slowly back to the castle. They got halfway there when Hermione remembered something.

"Ginny, wait," she said as she stopped and looked back towards Hogsmeade. "I forgot to get food for Crookshanks. I'll have to go back."

"Okay, well do you want me to go with you?"

"No, go ahead," Hermione replied. "Just take my dress and put it in the closet for me?"

"Sure."

Once she had Ginny's assent, she made her way back to the town and into the Magical Menagerie for some food. She made her purchase and walked back out of the store. As she walked past a nearby alley, she heard a familiar voice that made her stop.

"What do you want, Pansy?" Draco asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"I want _you_, Draco," she replied in what she thought was a seductive voice. It, however, only served to make Hermione gag. "I thought that was obvious." Pansy then proceeded to jump on the blonde boy, and kiss him rather forcefully.

"Skank!" Hermione said to herself as she walked away, owing to the fact that she had seen enough. She was angry and she really didn't know why. The brunette was lost in her thoughts and didn't hear someone come up behind her until they grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around, her brown eyes flashing dangerously. "Go away Malfoy." But he refused to do so.

"Hermione," Draco said. "I can explain."

"Why do you have to explain?" she asked in icy tones. "It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything." With this, she wriggled free of Draco's grasp and walked back to the castle for the second time that night.

9.9.9.9

By the time Hermione had gotten back, dinner was almost over so she decided to just go down to the kitchens instead. Oddly enough, since she had been so busy with other things and not able to work with S.P.E.W., the house-elves no longer resented her. They were happy to fill her arms up with mince pies and other goodies. But Hermione barely remembered to thank them, as she was so consumed in her own thoughts. "Why was I so _mad _at him?" Hermione wondered as she at her way through dinner in the common room. "I mean, it's not as if I have some sort of claim over him. He's not wearing a sign that says 'Hermione's. Back off.'" She finished her meal and then headed up to bed, still pondering.

"Stupid Pansy Parkinson…does she really think I'm just going to stand by while she touches _my_ Draco?" she wondered dreamily as she drifted off. Suddenly, she sat up straight. "WAIT! Did I really just say 'my Draco'?! I don't even _like _the guy! He is just a stupid, pig-headed git that happens to be incredibly hot. No! Bad Hermione! I want nothing to do with him. I really must be tired if I'm starting to imagine things." With the resolve of getting a full-night's sleep, Hermione immediately started thinking of fluffy white bunnies prancing about in green meadows. She floated off to sleep in a matter of minutes.

9.9.9.9

Hermione had completely forgotten her little foray into "Draco-land" by the next morning. However, the memory of Pansy getting on Draco was still fresh in her mind and made her, if possible, even madder every time she thought about it. This was mostly because she felt that she had no reason at all to be mad at anything, serving to make her even madder at herself. She didn't tell anyone what she saw, save for Ginny, who simply nodded and gave Hermione one of her knowing looks. "I despise those looks," she had mumbled when Ginny walked out.

The prefect spent the next week under a mountain of homework—all of the teachers insisted on getting in as much as they could before the Christmas holiday. She also spent a lot of time trying to get back that comfortable silence with Ron and trying to help Harry in any way she could. Any moment she had to relax was filled up with frolicking about in the snow with Ginny, Ron and Harry. Of course, this was Ron's idea, but Hermione went along with it, figuring that she deserved a break once in awhile.

Draco hadn't sent any word about Betty, which Hermione took for a good thing. She figured that he would tell her if the babies were born or if Betty suddenly burst into flame, or something. In fact, Draco didn't say much of anything to her—not that she cared, of course. However, whenever he could, he would catch her eye and give her an apologetic look, which only served to confuse Hermione more. "I wish he would stop that," she confided in Ginny one day. "He doesn't need to be apologizing for anything." Again, the redhead would nod but give an accursed knowing look. One day, however, Hermione did get an owl from Draco, and at the most unexpected time.

9.9.9.9

Draco woke up in the early hours of Saturday morning with a start. At first he thought the dream he had been having did the deed (he was being chased by a freakishly huge clown who was screaming "Will you be my friend?!") but he soon realized it was actually a noise that didn't belong in his bedroom. His private bedroom, mind you, one that Lucius Malfoy acquired for his only son. Anywho, so he awoke to a strange noise that sounded like a cross between a cat meowing and a dog barking. It was very strange indeed. Draco searched for the source of the sound, and soon found it—under his bed and in a large brown box.

"Ah!" Draco screamed as he realized what was happening. "Bloody hell! Okay, what to do, what to do." He paced around in circles as he tried to comprehend everything. What was happening, in fact, was that Betty, bless her soul, was going into labor and was about to have all seven of her babies very soon.

Suddenly, something clicked in his brain. "Hermione! Of course!" He quickly got a bit of spare parchment and scribbled a note on it. He called to his eagle ("Owls are for commoners," his father had once said.) and sent the note off with him to take to Hermione. He then grabbed a robe, picked up the box with some difficulty, and made his way out of his room and into the corridors.

9.9.9.9

Hermione was awoken quite abruptly to a sharp tapping at the window next to her four-poster. She looked at her alarm clock (three in the morning) and got up to allow admittance to a large, black eagle. The bird dropped a letter at Hermione's feet and soared right back out of the open window. "Thank you," Hermione called out weakly after it. Then she picked up the parchment and read:

_Hermione—_

_Betty in labor.__ Meet me in Charms classroom in five minutes. Hurry!_

_--D. Malfoy_

"Oh, dear," Hermione cried softly, since the other girls were still sleeping. Biting her lip, she grabbed a robe and headed out to the common room, knowing perfectly well that she was breaking about thirty-two point four school rules. "This is an emergency. You will not get in trouble," she repeated to herself all the way to the Charms classroom.

When she got there, Hermione found a thoroughly distressed Draco pacing about the room amid many conjured candles. He looked downright relieved when he saw her in the doorway. "Hermione!" he called as she walked in further. He seemed tempted to hug her, but resisted this knowing that it would be highly inappropriate, considering their history together. However, she barely noticed and went straight over to where Betty lay. She checked her heart rate and breathing patterns, muttering to herself the whole time. After a few minutes, Draco ventured a question.

"What should we do?" he asked in a small voice. Now, Draco Malfoy can handle most anything, but give him a pregnant something and he cracked.

Luckily, Hermione knew exactly what to do. Obviously, seeing is that she read all the books she could find on Kneazles ages ago. "We make Betty as comfortable as possible; she can do the rest herself." With this, she finished checking Betty, conjured a few cushions, and sat down.

"Oh," Draco mumbled as he did the same. At first he was going to sit few feet from Hermione, but thought better of it and placed his cushions right next to hers. "Well, what now?"

"Now, we wait. Other than that, there's not much else we can do," Hermione replied. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, the brunette spoke up. "So tell me, Draco, why do you enjoy looking down on other people?"

Draco was taken aback at this question, but took it seriously. He rested his chin on his hands while he thought. Hermione noticed at this time that Draco's hair was, for the first time in six years, not slicked back and looking perfect. It was tousled and falling into his eyes, which were glinting in the candlelight. Hermione liked the effect, but would never admit it out loud. Suddenly, the grey eyes in question looked up and pierced her own.

"I don't enjoy looking down on other people," he stated quietly. "It's just the way I was brought up—the things I was taught. It's the only way I know _how _to act, even if I don't like it." He was pensive for a few moments, and then added, "I can only hope everyone doesn't think that of me…especially you."

Whatever Hermione had expected him to say, this certainly wasn't it. Consequently, she didn't know how to take this new information. He seemed really hurt at the fact that people thought these things about him. But the last thing he said was what really made her think, so she asked, "Why do you especially not want me to think that?"

"Well," Draco said, eyes never leaving Hermione's. "For some reason I seem to care about what you think of me." Silence greeted his words as Hermione processed this.

"Oh," she whispered quietly. She sat looking at a nearby candle, knowing full well that Draco's gaze was still on her. Finally, she said, "Well that made me feel like the worst person in the world."

"No!" Draco cried. "I hadn't meant for it to sound like that. You're certainly not the worst person in the world. In fact, I think you one of the few truly genuine people out there."

"How can you say that?" the prefect voiced. "You barely even know me." For some reason, she couldn't meet his eyes still, even though it was absolutely absurd.

"Well, let's change that," the Slytherin replied. "Tell me about…your family."

"My family of Mudbloods, you mean," she retorted bitterly.

"Hey, I never said that. I'm being serious. I really want to know."

Hermione looked a bit skeptical for a moment, but then decided that Draco was, in fact, being serious. "Well, I'm an only child. I did have a younger sister, but she died a few days after she was born."

"I'm sorry," Draco said quietly, looking truly apologetic.

Hermione gave him a small smile and then went on. "My parents are both dentists, and extremely overprotective of me. I practically live in a bubble. When I got my letter to Hogwarts, I was so excited. I felt like I finally got a chance to get away and find out what kind of person I wanted to be. Both of my parents were also only children, so I don't have any aunts or uncles…" Hermione stopped here because one, she realized she had revealed a lot of personal information to her once-enemy, and two, she almost talked about her grandmother, which was something she wasn't quite ready to share.

Draco, sensing that she didn't really want to elaborate any more on the subject, spoke up, "Well, see? Now I know you better. I still mean what I said." He couldn't be sure, but he saw Hermione blush just a bit.

"Thanks, Draco," she replied quietly. "But tell me something about your family."

"Well," Draco started. "My father was away a lot, and always seems to disapprove of everything. I don't think I can ever be good enough for him. My mother is actually a very pleasant person, but my father insists on her keeping up an 'aristocratic' appearance, so not many people know her well. She was the only one who ever said she was proud of me, which means a lot. Other than that, there's not much to tell."

"That's not quite the nightmare I had always managed at Malfoy Manor," Hermione said, without thinking. "I mean no offense or anything. I don't mean to insult your family and…"

Draco, thankfully cut her off before she did any more damage or before she got the chance to ramble anymore. "It's okay, I know what people think. I'm just here to let _you _know that's it not true. Everyone else can kiss my arse."

The brunette couldn't help it: she burst out laughing. Draco was stunned for a moment, but soon started laughing too. The way Hermione laughed was infectious—he couldn't resist it. "S-Sorry," Hermione croaked out between semi-giggles (she really couldn't do it). "Just the thought—of someone kissing—your 'bottom side' is so—funny!" After this, the tension between the two parties melted away completely, and they talked about the most random things—from foil to using the word "indubitably". After a few hours, the both dozed off…

Sometime around seven thirty, Hermione woke with a start. At first, she had no idea where she was and had a moment of silent panic. Then she looked around and realized she was in the Charms classroom, and that Draco's face happened to be very close to hers. This brought on another moment of panic until she figured out why she was there. Betty was in labor and they had to be there. Then she thought of Betty and walked over to where the box was, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. When the brunette peered into the box and let out a little squeal. The kneazles had been born! She quickly counted seven of them and then did a little dance. Following this, Hermione ran over to Draco and shook him lightly.

"They're born!" Hermione cried as soon as Draco was properly up. "Come look!"

Draco came over and, indeed, there were seven extra kneazles now lying in the box. "Wow," he said. However, he was trying to look like he didn't care much about it at all. Hermione was bounding around the room and being very…well _girly _about all of this. "I don't care at all…" Draco thought to himself. "They are just little, teeny, furry creatures that are also very cute. No! Not cute. Be a man, Malfoy" He was internally chastising himself as he watched Hermione prance about. "She's so pretty…" he thought randomly. "Wait, where the hell did that come from!? I don't think she's pretty." Thankfully, Hermione saved him from his own thoughts.

"Let's name them!" she said, her chocolate-brown eyes sparkling. "There are seven of them so how about…yes! I have it." She picked up the closet kneazle and said, "We'll name this one Lundi. And this one can be Mardi." She picked up the rest of them in turn and named them Mercredi, Jeudi, Vendredi, and Samedi. Finally she came to the last one. "This one, of course, is…"

"Dimanche," Draco finished for her with a small smile. She looked up in surprise.

"Parlez-vous français?" She asked.

"Oui."

Hermione smiled at him and then handed him Dimanche. For a split second, their hands touched and Hermione felt something. She quickly shook it off and ignored it. Draco, however, didn't notice—he was too caught up in trying to look thoroughly disgusted. To say the least, he was failing miserably. Hermione knew that he was just as excited about the new babies as she was. "You're such a guy," she stated out loud with a little laugh.

Draco raised his eyebrows in an inquisitive way. Sighing, Hermione elaborated: "You are trying so hard to look like you don't care at all, just because you want to keep up your 'bad boy' image. I know you too well, Draco. You can't fool me."

The Malfoy heir looked as if he was going to refute this, but eventually decided against it. "Well, I suppose they _are _cute in a furry ball of…fur…kind of way?" Both Hermione and Draco paused at this moment to marvel at the boy's eloquence, or lack thereof, it was a matter of opinion.

"So, anywho," Hermione interrupted, for fear of losing more brain cells. "I'll just take care of the kneazles until the next Care of Magical Creatures class, okay?"

Draco suddenly became very quiet and looked from Dimanche to the other babies. Then he glanced up at Hermione with puppy-dog eyes and a pouty face. The Gryffindor, being a girl, could resist this so she threw her hands up in the air.

"Fine!" she sighed. "Go ahead and take them. Just make sure they don't die or anything." In truth, Hermione really wasn't angry that Draco got to keep the kneazles—she actually thought it was incredibly cute.

"Die?" Draco asked in a shocked voice. "What do you take me for? An amateur?" He smirked at this last remark, and then picked up the box and made his was out of the room. However, he was deterred by the hand Hermione had placed on his shoulder.

"Wait," she said softy. She seemed to be thinking about exactly what she wanted to say and then spoke up. "I don't think that you enjoy looking down on people. Not anymore." She gave him a small smile and then walked out ahead of him. Draco headed out a moment later, an identical smile on his own countenance.


	10. King of the World

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own the universe of Harry Potter. I only own the random thoughts that come into the various characters' heads.

A/N: Thanks for reviewing everyone! And for those of you who don't know, a kneazle (I'm thinking, at least) is a cat-type creature. Crookshanks is said to be part kneazle.

One question: would any of you read a post-Hogwarts Dr/H story if I were to write one?

Okay, without further ado, here it is. Enjoy and be sure to review.

_King of the World_

"Is there a reason why you were just semi-nice to Draco?" Hermione asked herself as she made her way back to the Gryffindor common room. "Don't answer that…then people think you're crazy." She glanced around to make sure that, indeed, no one _was_ looking before moving on. "Something is wrong with you, Hermione Granger," she whispered once she found the corridor was devoid of life, save for the dust mites that clung to the tapestries. "You can barely even tolerate the guy, let alone actually _like _him…"

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait…who said anything about _liking_ him?! That's it, I need sleep." With the resolve of getting some more sleep, considering the fact that all of her previous rest kept being interrupted, she determinately made her way through the last of the winding corridors and to the common room. When she reached the Fat Lady she muttered the password, _Pooglewidgets_, and then stalked over to the girls' staircase, not talking to anyone. However, she was deterred by one Ginny Weasley.

"And where were _you _this whole time?" she asked in a highly suspicious voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes whilst sighing—she really is quite the wonder at multitasking. "I was with Draco bec…"

She was cut off by the tumultuous gasp that erupted from Ginny's rather tiny frame. "You were with DRACO?!" A second later, she seemed to realize something. "Ooh! You were with _Draco_, eh?" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively before repeating, "Eh?"

"EW, no! Merlin, Ginny," Hermione exclaimed as she threw up her hands. "I was with Draco BECAUSE Betty went into labor early this morning and I had to be there for the kneazles. Did you really expect me to leave her alone with a guy? Anything could have happened. And right now, I would like nothing more than to just go back to bed and sleep for a few hours, so could you please move?"

Ginny still didn't look like she was convinced, but she let Hermione pass anyway. This, however, didn't stop the redhead from singing "Hermione and Draco, sittin' in a tree…" under her breath for a good part of the day. Of course, this gained her many strange looks from various peoples, who already thought her to be a bit touched in the head, based solely on the fact that Ginny would randomly burst into song.

Hermione slept until two thirty, but not very peacefully. Part of this was due to Lavender, who would come in every few minutes and announce the time by singing it opera-style. The brunette would always grumble to herself and then reply "Thank you, Lavender, but I am aware of that" or something along these lines. Finally, on the eleventh time Lavender walked in, Hermione lifted her pillow and threw it at the girl before she could sing. "Shut UP!" she yelled. Well, to say the least, Lavender did shut up and went away. After this, though, the prefect was unable to fall back asleep, so she contemplated the other reason as to why she was kept up: Malfoy.

"Curse Malfoy and his whole family!" she thought. "Why did he have to tell me that he actually wasn't _that _bad? I was perfectly content thinking he was an insufferable git, thank you very much." Hermione ranted, in her mind, of course, for the next few minutes. Finally, she got out of bed and spoke out loud. "Just forget it, Hermione. You know eventually he is just going to do something that will remind you why you hated him in the first place."

She didn't know how right she was.

10.10.10

Hermione spent the rest of the weekend doing the homework that was due in the next few weeks. Everyone else, well the girls at least, were talking nonstop about the Ball that was to be held on the last day before break, instead of on Christmas, like the Yule Ball was. This was because many of the parents wanted their children home for Christmas since Voldemort was growing stronger with each passing day. Hermione was excited about it, after all, she got the dress, but she was just dreading it because she didn't know who she would take. Harry was going with Ginny, Dean was going with Parvati, Seamus was going with Lavender and Ron…well…Ron and Hermione were still trying to get on better terms with each other.

Monday came, and with that brought the Care of Magical Creatures class with the ever pleasing Slytherins. Today was the day that everyone had to turn in their creature. Hermione waited anxiously for Draco, which was odd, because the last time they had Betty in class, she wanted nothing more than to kick his ass. Of course, she wrote off the impulse of wanting to see him as really _worrying _about how Betty and the kneazles were. Oh, how little she knew. Finally, she spotted him with the brown box in tow.

"All righ', everyone, gather roun'," Hagrid said once everyone got there with their Clabberts, and in Hermione and Draco's case, kneazle. "Today I want ter check over yer creatures, and then I'll grade yeh on the condition they're in." Everyone looked around apprehensively and Hermione noted that some of the Clabberts were looking rather worse for wear. Hagrid moved through the crowd, taking notes and giving out grades. In the meantime, Hermione went over to Malfoy.

"Hey, Draco," Hermione greeted as she got closer. He was standing around with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. "Let me see Betty."

Draco gave her a condescending look and then said, "Malfoys don't take orders from the likes of _you_, Mudblood." Hermione tried to give him a Death Glare, but only succeeded in being hurt. Everyone had turned to listen now. "So why don't you scamper off, considering I did this whole project by myself."

Now everyone gasped at this. Hermione Granger can handle being called a Mudblood and anything else you can throw at her, but say she didn't do her homework, and you've crossed the line. Her brown eyes flashed dangerously. "You foul, cocky, arrogant carrier PIGEON!" she screamed before stalking off.

"Yeah!" Ron added before spitting at Malfoy's feet. He ran off after Hermione since he had already gotten his grade from Hagrid. He paused to tell Hagrid that Hermione did, indeed, help a lot on the project, and not to believe Malfoy. Hagrid simply said "O' course" before letting him chase after her.

 "'Mione!" Ron called once he caught up to her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Great. Couldn't be better," she replied sarcastically.

"Look, Hermione," Ron began. "We all know Malfoy's a git and, if you want, I can always hex his arse into oblivion." He finished up the last part with a grin.

Hermione looked at him and then sighed. "You know, I'm not even upset that he called me a Mudblood, or that he tried to take all of the credit for the project. Mostly I'm upset because I was stupid enough to think that maybe, just _maybe, _Malfoy wasn't as bad as I thought he was," she said before adding "I guess I was wrong" with a bitter laugh.

Ron pulled the brunette girl into a tight embrace. "Hermione, what you have to understand is that guys like Malfoy are programmed by their fathers to be one thing: sadistic Death Eaters. It would take a miracle to make him change. And, Hermione, you can't be a miracle-worker for everyone."

Hermione looked up at him and gave him a small smile. He was right, of course—guys like Malfoy would never change. But that didn't mean she was going to give up quite yet. She couldn't explain how or why, but she knew Draco was better than that, and she was determined to prove it to everyone.

10.10.10

Though Hermione was trying to work a miracle, it didn't stop her from going off on Draco. She managed to corner him in an empty classroom after lessons on Monday. Needless to say, he was thoroughly surprised when Hermione grabbed him by the back of the robes and pulled him in.

"You, Malfoy, are the worst person I have ever had the displeasure of meeting," she started off, punctuating each word by poking Draco in the chest. Hard. "I can't _believe _(poke) you had the _nerve_ (poke) to discredit me in front of _everyone_ (poke.) Just because _you _(poke) had to go and be a _guy _(poke) and try to save face in front of all of your _friends_ (poke, poke, poke.)"

Draco was starting to become indignant and his chest was starting to hurt. "I was _not _trying t…"

"Oh, _don't_ (poke)even give me that, Draco! Now what _you _(poke) are going to do for _me _(poke) is tell everyone that I did my fair share of the _project _(poke) and that I am _not_ (poke) a Mudblood. Got that?"

"I most certainly will not!" Draco exclaimed. "A Malfoy never takes back anything he has said."

"You WILL!" Hermione retorted. "Or I shall poke thee to death!" (Poke, poke, poke.)

Draco, who was getting quite fed up with all the poking, grabbed both of Hermione's wrists and held them with one hand. "Ha! Now you can't! And I won't take back what I said."

"Please?!"

"No!"

"GOD!" The brunette yelled. "Why do you have to be so god damn SEXY?!" These words were greeted by a silence during which Draco dropped Hermione's hands and plastered a smirk on his face. "I mean…stubborn. I meant stubborn." Draco just kept on smirking in that smug way of his. "Oh, sod _off_!" Hermione shrieked before stamping out of the classroom.

"AHA! So she _does _think I'm sexy," Draco said to himself. "Well, it wasn't a big surprise. I _am _dead sexy, after all. Hmm…I wonder what's for dinner." Determined to fine out exactly that, he swaggered out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall.

10.10.10

"Oh. My. Gosh." Now, Hermione Granger was not one to overreact, but right now, she was definitely overreacting. "I just called Draco Malfoy, my sworn enemy, sexy!! Why did I do that? Why? Now Malfoy is going to think that I think he's sexy!" Hermione was frantically pacing around her dormitory now, which was empty due to the fact it was dinner. "I don't even think he is slightly sexy…Right?" Here she stopped and contemplated for a moment. "EW, no! You most certainly do NOT! Pull yourself together!" She continued pacing in this way until Ginny came up to see why she wasn't at dinner.

"Oh, Ginny, it was _bad,_" Hermione claimed, shaking her head. "So very, very bad."

The redhead, thinking the worst, tentatively asked, "What happened?"

Hermione buried herself in her pillows and then said, "I called Malfoy sexy."

Ginny, who heard "I mauled a boy in Tennessee," was now seriously disturbed. But, figuring she better make sure. "Pardon me?"

The prefect revealed herself before whispering, "I called Malfoy sexy!" She promptly turned a lovely shade of pink and then disappeared in her pillows again.

"You called Malfoy SEXY?!" Ginny screeched, which earned a heartfelt "Shut UP!" from Hermione. The youngest Weasley apologized before falling into a fit of giggles. This was, indeed, the funniest thing she had ever heard. "Maybe now they will admit they like each other. It's been so obvious for the longest time now," she thought, but she didn't say anything out loud. Besides, Hermione would just refuse it. Instead, she told Hermione it wasn't _that _bad and then left her alone with the promise that it _will _be okay.

Hermione, of course, didn't believe a word she said.

10.10.10

Hermione, being the person that she is, spent the next three days avoiding Draco Malfoy at all costs. It was considerably a lot easier this time around, owing to the fact that they no longer had to complete a project with each other. After getting top marks and twenty points each for taking care of Betty, and the little confrontation fiasco, Hermione and Draco parted their ways. Or so she thought.

Come Friday, all of the Gryffindor girls had officially begun talking about the Christmas Masquerade nonstop. Hermione, contrary to popular belief, was not in the least bit worried about finding a date. In fact, (oh, the horror!) she told Ginny and Lavender that she was planning on going alone, and was perfectly fine with that, thank you very much. They didn't believe her, so they spent their time convincing some guys to ask her to the dance. Hermione refused most of them, but the weirdest one she met while they had Herbology with the Ravenclaws, for a change.

"Okay, class, listen up," Professor Sprout called once everyone had settled into their stations. "Today we'll be working with Convivium Plants. Who can tell me something about them?"

Of course, Hermione's hand shot into the air. "Convivium Plants are known for their parties, though they have no visible face or body. They are for the most part placid, but will bite when irritated with the tiny teeth that line their leaves."

"Very good, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now today, we're just going to be pruning them. You'll be working with the person across from you."

Hermione looked at the boy that was sitting across from her. He had brown hair, blue eyes and, even though he wasn't standing, she could tell he was pretty tall. He also wore a dreamy expression that looked vaguely familiar. However, they had never met before, so she decided to introduce herself.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. Who are you?"

The boy looked startled that she had addressed him for a moment, but finally said, "I'm king of the world!"

"Sure you are…" she commented. Hermione was, needless to say, taken aback from this response and was thinking it was going to be a very interesting Herbology lesson. She watched the boy as he picked up the pruning shears and held them over two of the dead leaves. Suddenly, he looked up.

"The red wire, or the blue?" he asked in a hushed voice.

He seemed to be waiting for Hermione to answer, so she said, "Uh, blue?" The Ravenclaw boy snipped off the leaf and let it fall on the table. He then closely examined the pruning shears before seemingly finding them unfit.

"I'll be back," he stated in clipped tones as he went off to find another pair.

"Right…" Hermione breathed. She realized that everything he has said so far had been from a movie, which was odd since most wizards don't know what they are. The prefect was beginning to wonder if the boy was a bit touched in the head when the girl next to his spot turned to her.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Kristin Lovegood, and that was my twin brother Sam. You probably know our cousin, Luna."

Hermione looked at the girl. She had brown hair, brown eyes and an infectious high-energy attitude. The prefect decided that she and her brother really didn't look that much alike, besides for the fact that they were both rather tall. Then she remembered her manners and said, "I'm Hermione Granger." After a moment, she added, "Is there something…wrong? With Sam, I mean?"

Kristin laughed and shook her head. "No, he's just always been talking like that for as long as I can remember. See, our mother is a Muggle, and she _loves _Muggle films. She really got him into the habit of speaking in all movie lines. It makes him stand out more."

Hermione nodded and then wondered if being a Lovegood meant you had some quirk to your name. "She seems pretty normal," she thought. "I wonder what her quirk is." Just then, Kristin answered her thoughts.

"I know, you're probably thinking what's wrong with me then, right?" she asked with a smile. When Hermione gave a shrug, she clarified. "Well, actually, I'm considered the 'oddball' in the family, because I really don't act in a different way. But, that doesn't bother me, I like being unique." She finished up this last part with a big smile before turning back to her plant.

"She's really nice," Hermione thought as Sam finally returned with a new pair of pruning shears.

"May the force be with you," he said as he handed the shears to her.

"Umm…okay?" Hermione replied with a confused look. This obviously was a movie she had never seen.

"You're KILLING me, Smalls!" Sam exclaimed exasperatedly. His yell seemed to have angered their plant because it promptly bit him on the finger. Hard.

"Ack!" Hermione yelped. "Are you okay? Let me see that."

Sam, however, didn't let her. "'Tis but a scratch."

"No! You're bleeding. I can do a quick healing charm, if you'd like."

"I've had worse."

Hermione looked around in a confused way. "I'm sure you have," she said slowly. "Just let me heal it really quick."

"Come on, ye pansy!" Sam voiced.

Upon hearing Pansy's name, Hermione got a dark look on her face. "Skank," she thought as she grabbed Sam's hand. She muttered a quick healing spell before he could refuse any more.

"You're welcome," she said before picking up her pruning shears again. She and Sam worked in silence for the rest of the class period. When Professor Sprout dismissed class, Sam pulled her aside.

"May I escort you to the Masquerade, milady?" he asked in a very formal way.

Hermione was not expecting this, but then soon figured it was Ginny or Lavender's doing. "I'm really flattered, Sam, but I think I'm just going to go alone. I'm sorry," she replied.

"Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn," Sam retorted in an offhand voice before walking out of the greenhouse.

"Ginny and/or Lavender will get severely harmed for this," Hermione muttered as she headed out after the class.

Hermione was just about to head through the doors to the Great Hall when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She tensed, thinking it was Malfoy, but relaxed once she heard the familiar voice of Ron.

"Hey," he said with a smile. "Can we talk after dinner?"

"Sure," she replied with an answering smile. "We'll talk during patrol duty tonight."

10.10.10

After dinner, Hermione sat in her favorite chair by the fire and finished up her homework while she waited until it was time for her and Ron to do patrols. The new heads worked out a schedule earlier in the year that required everyone to do rounds at least twice a month. Finally, at nine o'clock, Hermione found Ron and they left the common room with a promise to Harry and Ginny that they would be back as soon as possible.

"So," Ron said after a few minutes of comfortable silence passed between them. "How have you been?"

Hermione thought for a moment before replying. "Honestly, I don't know how I've been. I'm just confused I guess."

"Confused? About what?" Ron asked.

"Nothing…everything…Things are just all over the place for me right now. Kind of like once I think I have everything figured out, something throws me for a loop. Do you know what I mean?"

Ron regarded Hermione for a second and then said, "Yeah, I think I do." Hermione turned to him then with a small smile. They lapsed into silence again. Finally, Ron couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you glad that you don't have to work with Malfoy anymore? That must have been awful."

At the mention of Malfoy's name, a deep blush crept up her neck and face. Suddenly, she was incredibly grateful for once that it was so dark in the hallways. "Yeah, I am glad. Though, you know, Malfoy really isn't as bad as we think he is."

Ron stopped dead in his tracks and whirled on Hermione. "Are you serious?" he asked incredulously. "Hermione, Malfoy has been nothing but mean to you since first year. He is a slimy git that is never going to be any better than what people think of him."

"You just don't know him like I do, Ron."

"Whatever you think you know about Draco Malfoy is a big lie. Whatever he told you is just his method of getting you to do anything for him. You can't trust him, Hermione; you never will be able to."

The brunette was getting rather defensive and hating herself for it. However, she decided that this was one battle she wasn't going to win. "You're right, Ron. He will never change."

Ron took a few moments then to calm down. "Okay, well Malfoy wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

"And what was?"

"I wanted to…apologize," Hermione started to say something, but Ron held up his hand. "No, just hear me out. Look, I have been a huge arse lately, and you really don't deserve that. The whole Allison thing was just one big mistake. I guess I just got excited because I actually found another person who was into all the same things that I was. I know, there isn't any type of excuse I can come up with that will justify what I did to you, but I just want you to know that I really wouldn't hurt you on purpose."

Hermione looked at Ron and noted the sincerity in his voice. "I know, Ron. I've already forgiven you too. How can I stay mad at you?" She asked the last part with a laugh.

"Well," Ron continued. "In light of all of this, I was really hoping that maybe you might possibly consider taking me back? I mean, I can understand, sort of, if you don't want to, of course."

Hermione had had suspicions lately that Ron would be, in fact, trying to get her back. She thought about this sometimes late at night when she was supposed to be sleeping but, alas, she was somewhat of an insomniac. She had never been able to figure out how she would answer him, but now she did.

"I'm sorry, Ron, but I think we're better off being friends." With this, she left a sullen Ron and went back to the common room. She really didn't quite understand why she didn't say yes—after all, that's how it was always supposed to be. However, Hermione was quickly finding out that nothing is ever what it seems. Her world was shifting at her feet, and if she didn't start moving forward, she was going to get lost in the shuffle.


	11. Unveiled Thoughts

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I wouldn't be living in Ohio.

A/N: Praise the Lord! I actually finished it! Sorry that I only got one chapter up before leaving on vacation. Hopefully I'll be able to write on the laptop though! Thanks so much for reviewing! It makes me feel special. Tehe. So here it is. Enjoy and review!

_Unveiled Thoughts_

Harry was sitting and pondering by the fire when Hermione came back into the common room. "Hey," he said as she walked towards the girls' dormitories. "How were patrols?"

Hermione looked up, startled. "Oh, I didn't see you there. Patrols were fine. They're patrols, after all. How exciting could they be? Well, I have to go now, Harry, goodnight!" She said all of this in one breath before running up the stairs.

"'Night," Harry said weakly before returning to his pondering ways. He noted that Hermione seemed—confused. He knew that Ron was going to try and get her back tonight, but her reaction made him wonder exactly how it went. Luckily, Harry didn't have to ponder further because Ron made his way into the room a few minutes later.

"Hey," Harry said again, hoping to get a better response. "How did it go?"

Ron sat down in a chair and stared into the fire. He waited a few moments before answering. "I'm not sure."

Now, Harry wasn't an exceptionally bright boy, but he wasn't stupid either. However, this statement positively befuddled him. "How can you not be sure?" he asked. "Either she said yes or she didn't. Now, which is it?"

"Well," Ron started slowly. "She said no, but I'm not sure if that's necessarily a bad thing."

If Harry Potter was confused before, it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now. He knew darn tootin' that Ron wanted Hermione back, yet when she turns him down, he doesn't know if it's a bad thing? "What do you mean that's not a _bad _thing? This is what you wanted, right?"

"I _thought_ it was, but now I'm not so sure," Ron said. After Harry's confused look, he went on. "Well, I have always wanted to go out with Hermione because, I don't know, it was like that's what was supposed to happen. I think she was more of a security blanket for me. Like someone that would always be there…it's confusing, I guess."

Harry looked at his best friend with scrutiny. He knew that Ron must be telling the truth, because one: his ears turned red when he lied, and two: because this wasn't the sort of thing you lied about. You lied about Divination homework and who broke your mother's favorite vase, but never about "matters of the heart" as Lavender would say. "I understand," Harry said, even though he didn't fully. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Well," Ron responded. "I think I am going to ask out Allison."

To say the least, Harry had not expected this. "Why? As some sort of rebound? That's low, mate."

Ron looked shocked at the fact that Harry would think this, but explained anyway. "No, no…it's nothing like that. I've always liked Allison, but I never went for it because Hermione was there, you know? Now that I know that Hermione doesn't want to be with me, then I think I should listen to my heart, for once. Besides, Hermione and I are better off as friends, while Allison could be great for me. I mean, she likes the _Cannons_, what other proof do I need?"

Harry thought about this for a moment. "He does seem to really like Allison…and Hermione obviously isn't interested." After a few more moments of quiet reflection, he made a decision. "I think you should go for it with Allison then. As long as you know that it's what you want."

Ron gave him a small smile in return. "It is." With this, both boys decided that it was a good time to head up to their dormitories and sleep.

11.11.11

"Why did I say no?" Hermione thought as she lay in bed that night. It was about three in the morning, and she still couldn't sleep, owing to the fact that she kept turning this thought over and over in her head. "I mean, it's not that I don't _like _Ron, it's just that sometimes he can be so…blah. We fight more than anything else…" The brunette stayed on this train of thought for the next half hour. Yet, she still couldn't, for the life of her, figure out _why _she did what she did and _why _it seemed that all of a sudden she was acting totally different, especially towards Malfoy.

"And what is the deal with Draco, anyway?" She asked herself. "You fight with him even less than you fight with Ron, and Ron happens to be one of your best friends. What about calling him sexy? Okay, so yeah, he is rather pleasant to look at, and he _is_ rather charming when he wants to be, but sexy? I don't know about that. I really didn't even mean it—it just sort of, slipped out. I can barely stand the guy…" Hermione pondered this for a few more moments. Suddenly, she sat up straight as a board. The prefect had just realized something, and it was disturbing indeed.

"Holy crap!"

11.11.11

At that moment, Draco Malfoy was lying in his overly-expensive bed with his silk sheets and was pondering about many a thing. Such things included, but were not limited to, "Why are bunnies so cute?", "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" and "Why are clowns so fricken scary?" Every so once in a while, he would get a thought that would actually pertain to something important, like "Where did I leave my rubber ducky?" and "Does Granger _really _think I'm sexy?"

"What do I think about her?" Draco asked himself as he came back to the subject of Hermione. "I guess I really don't hate her anymore, but I don't like her either, do I?" Alas, he pondered this for the next few moments. Finally, he shook his head. "No, no I don't. How can I? A man of Pureblood heritage can _never _associate themselves with Muggles, no matter how pretty and endearing they may be." Quite suddenly, he smacked himself on the head.

"No! Bad Malfoy. You think Hermione is neither pretty nor endearing. Remember that." As he continued to talk to himself and wonder about the enigma that is his life, he tried not to think about Hermione. However, he rather abruptly sat up straight as a board. Draco had just realized something, and it was disturbing indeed.

"Holy crap!"

11.11.11

In the next week, the whole castle seemed to come to life with a cornucopia of Christmas cheer. Everyone, even the professors, was in a good mood and excited about the upcoming ball and holiday. The decorations were, as always, beautiful. Hagrid had brought in a dozen trees to adorn the Great Hall, each with its own signifying ornament on it. Mistletoe and garlands were hung up over the staircases and across the rafters.

After making her startling discovery, Hermione decided to let that go, not tell anyone, and see what would happen. After all, Christmas was always Hermione's favorite time of year, and she wasn't going to let anything interfere with that. She loved the overall _vibe _that went along with everything. She especially loved the fact that Christmastime was when she could let loose and do whatever she wanted. For example, perhaps even doing homework the _day_ before it was due! Of course, she never told anyone this because, well, what if they thought she was a "wild child?" Then again, she would chortle at this thought every time it crossed her mind.

It was Hermione's resolve to not dwell on the fact that she turned Ron down. "After all," she decided one day. "I must have had a good reason, right?" She knew, naturally, that Ron really did like Allison (secrets never stayed that way for long in the Gryffindor Tower) and was perfectly okay with that. Ron deserved to be happy, and so did she. So, she made herself happy in any way that she could. This is how she ended up outside one cold night.

11.11.11

On Wednesday night, Hermione was restless. For some reason, she couldn't concentrate on sleeping—not with something like the full moon shining through her curtains. Finally, she decided to just throw back her curtains and take a look outside. Fresh snow was falling and the moonlight poured over the grounds, giving Hogwarts a mystical look. Everything seemed so peaceful, it was hard to imagine that somewhere Voldemort was gaining power.

"Don't think about that now," Hermione whispered as she mentally shook herself. So, she instead thought about other people, mainly Lupin and her Nana. Hermione wondered where Lupin was at that moment, making his transformation from human to werewolf. Silently, she wished him all the love and support he would need to get through it. The brunette looked back at the moon and was comforted by her Nana's spirit.

Hermione walked over to her trunk and opened it. She pulled out the photo album that her mother gave her all those weeks ago. Naturally, the prefect had looked through it countless times already, but she never got enough of it. She opened the book to the front binding. "Keep the magic in your heart," she whispered as she reread what her grandmother had written to her. She held the album closer to herself as suddenly, the serenity of the moonlight was calling to her. Hermione grabbed her cloak as she was lured outside. What she didn't know was that Draco Malfoy was acting along the same lines.

11.11.11

As Draco slipped through the corridors, the only thing he could think about was how much he wanted a Fig Newton. He would never, ever, _ever _mention this to anyone, since Fig Newtons, were, in fact, a delicious Muggle cookie and he should not be associated with such people.

"Although, if I really wanted to mention it, I am sure I can _fig_ure something out!" he said to himself before chuckling jovially at his own joke. As it is, no one else would have found this pun amusing in the slightest, but at the same time, no one would refute him. "Oh, ho! You are quite the witty one, Draco Malfoy."

He stopped mid-chuckle, however, when he stumbled on a familiar scene. Once again, he saw Hermione sneaking out of the big wooden doors in the entrance hall. And, again, he quickly decided to see what she was up to.

Hermione was standing by the lake with her arms outstretched and staring at the sky. Snow was falling all around her in an almost fairy-tale way, and Draco was mesmerized by the sight. He watched as she slowly started swaying to music only she could hear, once again thinking what the hell she was doing.

"I don't understand it," he whispered to himself. "Hermione Granger, model student and seemingly uptight person, dancing around in the snow in the middle of the night?" He may not have believed it, but there she was, not caring about what anyone thought.

However, if Hermione had turned around and actually noticed that Draco Malfoy was watching her prance about, she would have indeed cared of what he thought. She was in her own world, though, thinking about her Nana and how much she missed her. For the moment, she was happy and simply enjoying the feel of the moonlight on her face and the snow fluttering down around her.

"She's so pretty," Draco thought, now having a very strong sense of déjà vu. "No wonder I fancy h…" Just then, he stopped himself. He had almost admitted what he really felt about this brunette Gryffindor. Of course, he had known this himself since that night when he made his disturbing discovery, but he had never said it out loud. Somehow, saying it out loud would make it real.

"Who am I kidding?" Draco muttered. "I _want _to make this real. I fancy Hermione Granger. There." Feeling very accomplished indeed, he watched her dance about for a few more minutes. "Well," he thought. "What are you going to do now?" Draco pondered for a moment, and then finally decided he couldn't take it anymore. Being this far from Hermione was killing him, and so was pretending that he hated her. "Here goes nothing," he whispered before walking towards her.

Hermione was just about to finish up her little foray in the snow when she heard a branch crack behind her. Immediately on her guard, she pulled out her wand and searched for the source of the noise. Now, whatever she might have expected, Draco Malfoy walking towards her was not one of them. "What the hell?" she said to herself as she watched him. However, after a moment, she seemed to realize what was going on and promptly became indignant.

"What the crispy are you doing here, Malfoy?" Hermione said once he was within earshot. She didn't want to yell in case she woke up one of the professors and they were caught outside in the middle of the night. "Are you stalking me or something?! How long have you been standing there? Why didn't you come up and say anything to me, instead of creeping around like some sort of…creep!?" She asked all of these questions in rapid succession. "What kind of person…" Exactly what kind of person would do what, Draco and Hermione will never find out. The prefect was cut off mid-sentence because, quite suddenly, she found her mouth occupied.

As she was chastising him, Draco ignored all of her questions, unfazed. She was talking entirely too much, he decided, so he brought her face to hers with one hand cupped under he chin and the other on the small of her back. Then…he kissed her, to put it simply. The Kiss effectively shut her up and at the same time showed Hermione how Draco felt.

Hermione was, to say the least, completely shocked. However, after a moment she slid her arms up around his neck and kissed him back. It was her turn to have déjà vu as she thought of the dream she had had. "Wait. You are kissing MALFOY!!" Her mind screamed at her as she finally registered what she was doing. The prefect abruptly pulled away from the _Slytherin,_ no less, and looked at him from behind confused eyes.

"Grr!" She uttered fervently. "I'm not supposed to like you!" Without a backward glance, Hermione ran away towards the castle and left Draco in the snow wondering what to do next. After a few more minutes, a smug smirk graced his face.

"Did she just _growl _at me?" he asked himself with a chortle. He then walked off after her feeling particularly smug.

11.11.11

As he reached his room, Draco progressed to feeling duly triumphant. He carefully shut his door and then pranced about like a Scottish lad on Christmas…even though he wasn't Scottish nor was it Christmas yet. Anywho, he proceeded in this way until he bounded over to his fish tank.

"Gill!" he said as he tapped the glass. "Gill! Wake up!" The goldfish started swimming around his bowl blearily and then stood at attention. "She likes me!" Draco squealed in a very girly way. He then turned his attention to the full-length mirror in the corner.

"Well, of _course _she likes me. I knew it all along. After all, who could resist this?" Draco, being the very smug and very vain person that he is, spent the next twenty-five minutes flexing in the mirror and admiring his reflection. He went to bed only after he had a scare—he thought his hairline may have retreated—and slept late, missing breakfast the next morning.

11.11.11

"Okay, so I finally said it out loud," Hermione whispered as she sat in the Gryffindor common room that night. Alas, the startling discovery that she had made was that she liked Draco Malfoy. Consequently, she hated herself for it. "This is not how it's supposed to be," she tried to convince herself.

But, try as she might, she could not ignore the underlying truth. The prefect fancied her enemy and that was why she rejected Ron. She thought that once she figured out why she didn't take him back, everything would be clear and she would no longer be confused. However, it only served to make her even more confused and hurt. Hermione's world was upside-down, and she didn't like that she had no control over it.

The next morning Hermione woke up with a crick in her neck, owing to the fact that she had fallen asleep in the armchair by the fire. She had been having a pleasant dream and wondered what woke her up from it. A quick scan of the room gave her the answer. Ginny was standing behind her with an expectant look on her face.

"Well?" she asked.

Hermione, being sincerely confused, asked, "Well what?"

"Why are you sleeping in the common room?" Ginny asked in a slightly exasperated voice. "Breakfast is about to begin."

"Well," Hermione started, trying to think of an excuse. "I feel asleep here." After finishing rather lamely, the brunette avoided the youngest Weasley's eyes.

"I can see that," Ginny said. "But why were down here in the first place?"

Finally looking up at her, Hermione regarded the redhead for a moment. She decided that it would be better for her to simply tell the truth. "I'm sleeping here because I snuck out last night again…" she began. Hermione told Ginny everything, starting with her being restless the night before and ending with her telling Ginny the story now. The redhead didn't say anything, even when the prefect reluctantly stumbled over the part of this kiss. This was due to the fact that she was secretly thinking, "It's about time" through the whole discourse.

When she was done, the first thing Ginny said was, "Wow."

"I know," Hermione replied. "I know."

"Well, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, to be honest," Hermione replied. "I mean, it's still Malfoy. All I know is that I really need some coffee." With this, both girls got up and walked down to breakfast in the Great Hall.

11.11.11

It was all Hermione could do to not think about Draco and stay as far as she could from him in the next two days. Of course, she was used to trying to avoiding him, but now it was different because she was torn. Part of her wanted nothing to do with him and another part wanted to see him as much as she could. Unfortunately, her efforts were proving to be futile.

Everywhere she went, it seemed, Draco was always nearby. She honestly couldn't get away from him, and it was slightly miffing her. She still hated herself for liking him, and he wasn't making it any easier on her. Every time they crossed paths, he would smile at her, and she would never be able to stop herself from smiling back. The only thing she did manage to do was not talk to him, but even that was proving to be harder than she thought.

Draco knew, of course, that Hermione was trying to get away from him, but he really couldn't understand why. He wanted to know if anything would ever happen between the two of them, but Hermione was refusing to talk to him. Most of all, he really wanted to know why she would dance under the full moon, since it was obviously it wasn't a one-time-only thing. He got his opportunity to find out on Friday after their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.

Hermione was lagging behind to clarify some points on that day's homework with Professor Tonks, so Draco waited by the door. When she finally came out, he walked up to her.

"Hey," he said. "Can I talk to you?"

"I'm actually busy right now, Draco," she replied. She tried to step around him but he blocked her way. The brunette moved to the other side and found her way blocked again. "I don't have time for your games, Malfoy. Please move."

"Only if you talk to me for a few minutes," he retorted.

Hermione sighed and then consented. "Okay, but only for a few minutes." In truth, she really didn't want to talk with Draco, because she had a good guess of what it might be about. He led her into an empty classroom and they sat down opposite each other.

"So, what do you want?" Hermione asked, wanting to get to the point.

"I want to know what's going on between us," Draco said bluntly.

"Well, you tell me, Draco. You're the one who kissed me," Hermione replied.

"Yes, but you kissed me back."

Hermione squirmed at the thought, but then decided to be honest. "I don't know what's going on between us, and I don't know if anything ever could happen."

"Maybe it will though, eh?" Draco said with a small smile.

"Maybe, Draco," Hermione voiced. "Is that all you wanted?"

"No, I have one more question."

"Okay, shoot."

"Why is it that I have twice found you dancing outside under the moon in the middle of the night?" he asked.

Hermione, who was really only half-listening, blinked a few times as something clicked in her brain. "Wait, what do you mean _twice_?"

"Oh, that…well I saw you the first time you went out, too," the Slytherin replied sheepishly.

The teenage girl didn't know how to react to this, but then decided she was too tired to argue. "Well, if you really must know, I do it because of my Nana…she died a few months ago." She paused as Draco said "I'm sorry" with true sympathy. Then she went on.

"We used to dance under the full moon, every month, when I was little. It was a time where it was just us, and no one could take that away. We would go through her old ballet costumes and find the perfect ones for that night. She would always say we were putting on a show for the moon and stars, and I loved every minute of it. When I was accepted into Hogwarts, I didn't see her as often and now it's too late. I don't know. Now I guess I'm just trying to feel close to her again. So there it is, go ahead and laugh."

Draco, who had been listening intently, spoke up. "I wasn't going to laugh. I think it's nice that you have something to believe in so strongly. It makes me wish I was closer to my grandparents."

Hermione gave him a small smile and was relieved that he wasn't going to laugh. She had never told anyone, not even Ginny, about how close she was with her grandmother, and was surprised that it was so easy to open up to Draco. "Yes, well, I guess I should be going now. See you around, Draco."

She was just about to walk out the door when she was stopped by his voice. "You know, Hermione, I might just surprise you one of these days. You never know, something could happen between us, and maybe that wouldn't be such a terrible thing."

She listened to all of this with her back turned to him, but when he was finished she turned around. He had a sincere look in his eyes and a smile on his face. She found herself thinking that maybe he was right. Hermione smiled back and then made her way out of the door, but not before saying one last thing.

"We'll see, Draco."


	12. In More than Twenty Countries

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I think I would be able to come up with something wittier to write here.

A/N: Okay, first off, this story is most certainly not over. No where near it actually…that last chapter wouldn't be a very good way to end a story, now would it? Anyhow, I'm in Palm Desert, California on vacation, so that's why this chapter took so long. Sorry about that. Well, thanks for reviewing and be sure to do so again! Enjoy!

_In More than Twenty Countries_

Ron was pacing in the corridor outside of the Charms classroom. It was his off period and, though he _should _be studying in the library with Harry and Hermione, he decided that he couldn't wait for what he needed to do. He stopped pacing and stood in the shadowy doorway of the room next to Charms. Nervously, he ran his hand through his flaming red hair. "I can't believe I'm doing this…you better not mess this up, Weasley."

Finally, the bell rang and Professor Flitwick let out his fifth-year class. Ron scanned the line of Ravenclaws until he found who he was looking for. "Don't be a prat. Just be cool…cool_._ Okay, here goes," he whispered to himself before making his move.

Swiftly, he caught Allison Morell by the arm and pulled her into the empty classroom. "Whoa baby!" she cried as he shut the door behind them. To anyone else, this may have seemed to be an incredibly shady act, but it really only looked like that because Ron was too nervous to be smooth about things.

Allison was, needless to say, completely caught off guard and didn't know what to think. Out of habit, she whipped out her wand and looked around for the danger. After realizing her kidnapper was, in fact, Ron Weasley, she lowered it skeptically. Allison's countenance shifted from surprise to confusion. "…_the hell_?"

"Sorry," Ron muttered. "Look, I know that Hermione probably told you to stay away from me and everything, or maybe she didn't? I don't know, but considering the fact that she caught us kissing, which was bad…well not bad in the sense that it was a bad kiss or anything, because I mean it wasn't. It was just bad in the sense that my girlfriend caught me kissing another girl. That's not the point."

"Let's hope not," Allison said, feeling utterly confused. "Why does he keep talking about how Hermione caught us and how she wants me to stay away from him?" she thought to herself.

Finally, Ron continued. "The point is that I really like you Allison. I mean, you're smart, funny, and you like the Cannons! What more could a guy like me ask for? And, yes, I know for awhile that I still wanted to get Hermione back, but I've only just realized that it was you who I've liked this whole time," he paused here, trying to read some emotion from Allison. Ron _thought _she was blushing just a bit, but couldn't really tell in the dim lighting.

He took a deep breath then went on. "So now I'm hoping that you'll forget the fact that it took me so long to figure out how I really felt and forget that I'm just a bumbling idiot in general. That being said, Allison, will you go out with me?"

Ron had been averting his eyes this whole time, but now he finally took a glance at her. All he could see, however, was the top of her head, owing to the fact that she was looking down. "Oh, Merlin," Ron thought to himself. "She isn't saying anything! Great, now you look like a complete dolt."

"Right," he said out loud in a slightly strained voice. "So, you obviously don't feel the same way about me so I'll just be going now!" He started to make his way to the door, blushing furiously no less, when Allison caught his arm. Ron turned around slowly and caught her green eyes with his blue ones.

"No," she voiced timidly. "I _do _like you, quite a bit actually. And I would like nothing more than to go out with you." During this exchange, the two teens had been unconsciously moving closer to each other. Allison closed her eyes expectantly as she and Ron finally kissed.

"Brilliant," he whispered as she giggled. With this, both of them walked out of the classroom, hand in hand.

12.12.12

The Christmas Masquerade was in four days, so, naturally, everyone was going at double speed. The teachers were all trying to cram in as much homework as they could before the break started and the students were struggling to concentrate, especially the girls, who were discussing the dance nonstop. The only person who seemed able to remain calm was Albus Dumbledore, who decided to let the day of the ball be a free day, much to the students' delight and the professors' chagrin.

The news of Allison and Ron officially becoming a couple spread through the Hogwarts halls like wildfire. No less than fifteen people asked Hermione if she was alright, and every time she answered with "Of course. I'm happy for them!" However, the comments were pushing her nerves. At some point in the day, she wondered if she should post a sign on her robes that said, "I am no longer dating Ron Weasley, and I am perfectly okay with that." Alas, she decided this might be a tad too much.

Hermione actually thought very little about Ron and Allison getting together, but more of her situation with Draco. Now that they both knew they liked each other, she wondered what was going to happen next. Even more problematic, she didn't even know if she _wanted _something to happen next. Her biggest fear was how Harry and Ron would react to her and Draco being something of an item. They were some of the most important people in her life, and there was no way she was going to some guy jeopardize that. After much pondering on her part, she finally decided to just talk to them about it, without revealing anything incriminating, of course. Hermione found her chance to do this the night after the last day of lessons.

"Can I talk to you guys for a few minutes?" she asked once everyone else had cleared from the common room. The trio had been sitting in a comfortable silence until now—Hermione was curled up with a book while Ron and Harry played a game of Wizard's chess. At her query, both boys looked up.

"Of course, Hermione," Harry said as he pulled his attention away from the game. Ron was a little more reluctant to do so, but followed suit nonetheless. "What's on your mind?"

"Well," Hermione started while wringing her hands. Harry took note of this action and correctly surmised that she was nervous. "I was just wondering…well I like this guy…"

At these words, Ron snapped to attention. "Who is it?" he asked, already feeling overprotective of his best friend.

"Don't worry, Ron, it's no one that will hurt me in any way," Hermione assured him with a smile. "But he's also not the most…_popular _guy either." She was choosing her words carefully, not wanting to give away Draco's identity. "What I'm really trying to say, I guess, is if you guys would mind or get upset over anyone that I may choose to get into a relationship with."

Harry and Ron seemed to be considering this for a few moments. Finally, Harry spoke. "Of course that would never bother or upset us. We just want the best for you, and if this guy really makes you happy, then I say go for it." Then to Ron he added, "Right?"

"Right," Ron quickly concurred. "As long as you're happy."

Hermione smiled at both of them. "So you wouldn't do anything…drastic if I went out with someone who wasn't particularly your best friend?"

"Hermione, what do you take us for?" Harry retorted in mock hurt.

"It's not as if it's Draco Malfoy, or anything," Ron added jokingly.

Hermione's throat suddenly went dry with worry, but she forced out a fake laugh anyway. Harry wasn't joining in because he could read Hermione's emotions, even if she wasn't openly displaying them. She was worried now, and it made Harry wonder about who it was exactly that she liked. However, he stuck to the fact that he would accept whoever it was as long as Hermione was happy. Besides, if this guy ever did hurt her, he knew that he and Ron would then have every right to kick their ass.

"Well, I think I'm just going to head up to bed, big day tomorrow and everything. Goodnight you two," the brunette said before gathering her books. She barely waited for the returned goodnights before she headed up the girls' staircase.

Once she got up to her dormitory, she changed into her nightclothes and sat on her four poster bed. "Well that solves it," she thought to herself as she stared at the moonlight that was spilling across the floor. "I can never go out with Draco Malfoy…I'm not sure if I would even want to in the first place." Even as she thought these words, the prefect knew that she was lying to herself, but being the person that she is, she refused these emotions. Eventually, Hermione fell into an uneasy sleep as she wondered what the next day would hold for her.

12.12.12

The day of the Christmas Masquerade dawned bright and with the promise of a great day, even for Hermione. The students woke up to a fresh layer of snow on the Hogwarts' grounds. The sun was shining, reflecting off of the thousands of snow crystals, giving the whole place an otherworldly quality. As the various students looked out at it, most of the guys were already planning an awesome snowball fight while the girls were worrying about the upcoming night, even though it was not for another twelve hours.

Hermione, of course, was woken up by a revved-up redhead who goes by the name of Ginny Weasley in more than twenty countries. Ginny ripped open the curtains of the prefect's bed, letting the morning sun spill in, and then immediately jumped on the bed.

"Wake up!" she cried as she bounced a bit. "It's TODAY! And time for us to start getting ready!"

"Get off of my bed," the older girl said crossly. "Or I might have to hex you and refuse to go to the ball altogether."

"Fine," Ginny replied as she got off the bed. "But I'm going to be downstairs waiting…breakfast is almost over." With this, the youngest Weasley exited the room, humming softly to herself.

Grumbling, Hermione pulled herself out of bed and got into the shower. She let the hot water wake her up a bit and then got dressed. When she got back out of the lavatory, she was surprised to find a package waiting for her on her bedside table. "Where did this come from?" she asked Lavender as she picked it up.

"I don't know," the latter replied. "One of the school owls brought it in—it almost didn't let me take it since I'm not you, obviously. I didn't open it either, so don't worry."

Curious, Hermione sat on her bed and carefully opened the package. Inside was a long thin box, the kind that jewelry comes in. She opened this up and gasped at the necklace she saw. A pendant of a silver crescent moon with tiny light blue gems imbedded into it hung from a silver chain. But what struck Hermione the most was the small fairy with wings set in green gems that sat on the tip of the moon. The brunette decided then and there that it was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen.

Under the necklace was a note. Hermione picked this up and read:

_Consider this an early Christmas present. I couldn't wait to give this to you, and I wanted you to have it for tonight. I hope you like it._

The note was left unsigned, and she didn't recognize the handwriting. "Who would get me something so expensive?" she wondered vaguely. However, she really didn't give it too much more thought, owing to the fact that she was simply too excited to care. She reread the note again as a slow smile spread across her face.

"Well, somebody likes you!" Lavender exclaimed as she looked at the necklace over Hermione's shoulder. "Wear it tonight!"

The prefect laughed and said, "I think I will." With this, the girl put the necklace back in its box and headed downstairs to tell Ginny about it and to get some breakfast. The two girls talked about who would have sent her something like that as they made their way to the Great Hall. Somehow, Hermione thought she already knew who this mystery person was. The rest of the day was certainly looking up.

The excitement that radiated from the Great Hall was practically palpable. Everyone was talking animatedly about the ball that night. All of the girls were exchanging costume descriptions and hair and make up suggestions. The guys were mostly talking about how they were going to wear their dress robes and then make something up from there. "Typical," Hermione whispered as she crossed a group of Hufflepuff boys.

Finally Hermione and Ginny found a spot towards the end of the Gryffindor table. Ginny dug right in, but Hermione didn't have much of an appetite. She was having mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement. On one hand, she was excited about the necklace she received, but on the other hand, she was worried about going to this ball alone. What would people think? Now she was regretting turning down all of those guys.

"Eat, Papa. Eat!" Ginny exclaimed from beside Hermione, breaking her out of her reverie. The brunette turned to her and started to crack up.

"You have to be the strangest person I know," she said. "And okay, I will eat." Hermione let Ginny heap her plate with bacon, eggs and sausage. Soon, the prefect forgot all about her emotions and let herself fall into the conversation.

12.12.12

"Already?!" Hermione exclaimed incredulously. She and the rest of the girls were sitting in the fifth year dormitory after breakfast. Hermione had kept quiet until now, but what Ginny was saying was simply insane.

"Yes," Ginny replied in a much calmer voice. "If you want to look good for tonight, then we have to start getting ready now. Everyone knows that. Ask Lavender."

Lavender, upon hearing her name, dug her way out of a mountain of cosmetic products and waved away the cloud of hairspray that seemed to permanently follow her around. "Ask me what?"

"Hermione seems to think that it's entirely too early to start getting ready," Ginny stated.

"Certainly not! Four hours ahead is the perfect time to start getting together," Lavender started. "I mean, what if your hair doesn't turn out right and you have to start over. Or maybe your make up could go horribly, horribly wrong. You have to leave time for accidental work!"

"If you don't, you could _die_," Ginny added dramatically, one hand over her heart.

"_Honestly_!" Hermione cried as she threw her hands up in the air. "We are _witches. _It's not as if you can't just use a spell to fix it! You people are insufferable."

Sadly, no matter how hard she tried, Hermione was subjected to hairspray, eyeliner and blush for the better part of the day. Ginny insisted (for an hour, no less) on doing Hermione's hair in extravagant means, even though the brunette didn't want anything too fancy.

"No, Ginny," she said at one point. "I do not want to have my hair piled on my head with butterflies magicked to float about."

"But that would be so nifty!" Ginny protested.

Obviously, the prefect would have to bring out the heavy artillery. Yes, this meant she was going to use Reverse Psychology.  "Maybe," Hermione said in mock sincerity, choosing her words carefully. "But it has nothing to do with my costume."

Now Ginny could not argue with this. Conflicting costumes were "social suicide" as she put it. "You're right," she finally admitted. "Why don't you just do it yourself, since you know exactly what your costume is."

Of course, this is exactly what Hermione thought would happen. "Okay, Ginny, if you are sure."

"Indeed, I am! You can't argue with a styling genius such as myself."

Hermione tried her hardest not to snort out loud. "No, you can't."

So, the brunette went about with arranging her hair in the way she wanted. She settled with letting it down and leaving it curly. She pulled the front pieces away from her face and tied them back with a diamond and sapphire barrette that her grandmother had given her on her twelfth birthday. "There," she said when she was finished. "That's much better."

Somehow, Ginny forgot about doing Hermione's make up too, owing to the fact that she was much too concerned with her own. She and Lavender became quick friends as the bonded over lipstick—they found they both wore the same shade! This was a huge relief for Hermione, naturally.

As she sat in the mirror studying her reflection, Hermione thought back to her Nana. She decided to do her make up the way that they would back when they put on their shows. This was also a reason why she chose the costume that she did. This year, everything revolved around the unforgettable woman's memory.

For the next hour and a half, Hermione worked meticulously to get her make up just right. She wanted a dramatic look, but nothing over the top. After this, she walked over to her closet and slid on the dress she had bought at Mon Cher. Finally, she slipped on the necklace she received that morning and looked at herself in the full length mirror.

"Wow," she breathed. The person she saw in the glass was barely recognizable, even to her. Hermione's dress fit her perfectly—hugging her curves until the waist where it fell to the floor in a full skirt. It was crushed velvet, midnight blue and done in the medieval style, complete with a corset. The dress had a square neck that fell off the shoulders and sleeves that fitted until the elbows, when they flared down and revealed a silver underlay which came to a point on the back of her hand. The corset, which was Hermione's favorite part, was done in the same color, but with silver leaves embroidered around the edges.

Hermione was the most proud of her make up. She used bluish-silver eyeliner to trace around her eyes. On an impulse, she fanned out the color from the corners of eyes and into her hairline, giving her an otherworldly look. The brunette used black mascara to add a more dramatic effect. She used a simple gloss on her lips and then used a shimmer dust over the rest of her face, neck and chest.

As she stared at her reflection, Hermione took note of the all too familiar excitement of being in costume. This was one of the things she had missed—being able to turn into someone else, even if it was only for a night. "Well, I guess it's time to meet Ginny downstairs," she muttered as she walked out of the dormitory and down the stairs.

12.12.12

"Oh, my GOD!" Ginny squealed as Hermione came down the stairs. "I can't believe that it's you! You look so great!"

Hermione smiled and looked back at the redhead. "You look pretty great yourself."

Ginny had put her hair up in a mass of curls on top of her head. She added sprigs of pine leaves, baby's breath and white lilies to it so it would go along with her costume. Surprisingly, she used very little make up and only had blush and mascara on. With her dress, she looked exactly like the embodiment of Mother Nature, which is what Ginny was going for.

Harry joined them a minute later in his regular green dress robes. He didn't seem to be in costume, but like most of the guys, he just made something up that went along with his date.

"Let me guess," Hermione said when she saw him. "Father Time?"

Harry looked down at his robes and then back at her. "However did you know?" he replied sarcastically. "Well, Ginny and I are supposed to be meeting Ron and Allison in the Great Hall. Are you going to come with us?"

"No," Hermione voiced. "I'm just going to finish up a few more things before I come down."

"Okay then. See you in a bit." With that, the two Gryffindors walked out of the portrait hole and out of view.

"Well, then," Hermione whispered to herself, thinking she was alone. "I _will _have fun tonight, even if I am all by myself." Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind her.

"That's no way to talk!" Hermione turned around and saw Lavender. She was all dressed up in her light blue and green dress, which matched her costume of the ocean. "Remember what I told you about being independent?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Hermione thought, but didn't say aloud. Instead she replied, "I know, Lavender. I promise not to speak negatively about myself anymore."

"Great!" The girl responded. "Anywho, I found this outside and it's addressed to you." Suddenly, Hermione noticed that Lavender was holding a piece of parchment and a single long-stemmed red rose.

"Oh," Hermione voiced, obviously shocked. "Um, thanks…" She silently took the parchment and rose and looked at it. She opened up the note first and read:

_Go outside and follow the roses._

As before, the note was left unsigned and Hermione was beginning to believe she had something of a secret admirer. Suddenly, she felt a rush of excitement. She looked down at the rose and saw parchment attached to it. "You are…" she read aloud.

Hermione made her way out of the portrait hole and looked around. She saw an identical rose on one of the statues. She picked it up with a smile and read, "Insufferable."

"Who would say that?" Hermione said out loud as her smile faded. She spotted another hint of red at the top of a staircase. "Bossy."

Although she was feeling very hurt by this little excursion, she went on to find the next three roses. They said "Illogical," "Controlling" and "A know-it-all."

"What is going on?" Hermione exclaimed after she found this last one. She was now halfway to the Great Hall and was feeling very crestfallen. She was just about to give up and go back to the common room when she saw yet another rose on a torch bracket. Hermione wasn't going to even bother, but at the came time she was extremely curious. She walked cautiously over to it and lifted up the rose. She read:

_Beautiful.___

Now, to say the least, the brunette was utterly confused. "Okay, so first I'm insufferable, and now I'm beautiful? What the _hell_?!" Curiosity was most certainly taking over now. She quickly found the next three roses, which said "Incredible," "Lovable" and "Extraordinary."

By now, Hermione had collected ten roses and her smile had returned. "Who would go through all of this trouble?" she asked herself and at the same time searching for the next rose. She found it at the top banister of the staircase leading down to the Great Hall. Hermione picked it up and read:

_Inspiring.___

Hermione was feeling very special indeed. Not only did something think so highly of her to go through all of this trouble, but also just knowing that someone had picked _her. _She had a pretty good idea of who this person may be, but she didn't risk saying it out loud, owing to the fact that she didn't want to jinx it. Hermione closed her eyes in order to collect her thoughts before looking for what she knew would be waiting for her.

"This is the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me," she whispered to herself. "You know who you would _like _this "secret admirer" to be, but sometimes life doesn't turn out like that, so you can't get your hopes up." As she was thinking this, her smile faded just a bit. "When did this all happen?" she mused. "I mean, when did I become such a hopeless romantic? This year has been nothing but surprises from day one, but I think that it has been good for me…I know how to be myself now. Okay, I guess it's time to face the music."

The prefect slowly opened her chocolate brown eyes and looked down the staircase. A smile crawled across her face as she took in the sight. At the bottom of the staircase she found the solitary figure she was hoping for, holding the twelfth, and final, rose.


	13. The Christmas Masquerade

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure people who own multi-million dollar grossing books such as Harry Potter don't manage to get themselves sunburn.

A/N: I broke 100 reviews!? HOLY CRIPPOLA! ::does a little happy dance:: I am so excited. Okay well thank you for reviewing and review again! I love hearing from you guys. Honestly. Oh dear, well the last chapter was rather fluffy, and I must say, so is this one. I hope you like it anyway.

_The Christmas Masquerade_

Hermione slowly walked down the staircase and stopped in front of the person standing there. She looked up into his grey eyes and suddenly felt a rush of emotion. He handed her the last rose and she read the note on it.

_…and absolutely perfect in every way.___

"Hermione," Draco said softly once she was finished reading. "I know that so much has happened between us in the past, but I'm hoping you can forget that. You are the only person who I have let see the real me, and at the same time the only person who took the time to do so. You have no idea how much that means to someone like me. And now, I would like nothing more than to go out with you."

"Oh, really?" Hermione inquired, her eyes dancing.

"Yes," Draco replied. "Well…maybe there is _one _thing…" With this promise, he leaned down and captured her lips with his own. The kiss was short and sweet, but it was enough to send an electric shock between them.

"I was hoping it would be you," Hermione whispered when they pulled away. "I don't know when that happened, but it did."

"Huzzah!" Draco said as he saw the smile on her face in the dim lighting, and an easy smile spreading across his own. "I'm glad that it did."

Hermione laughed and then kissed him again. "Let me do something about these," she said, gesturing to the roses. She conjured up a vase full of water and then banished the bouquet to her room, where she knew she would find them later that night. Looking back to Draco, she asked, "I'm guessing the necklace is from you?"

"But of course," Draco said as he ran his finger over the pendant. Then, he held Hermione at arm's length and took in her costume. "So, what are you supposed to be?"

"I am the Night's First Star," the brunette replied imperiously.

"Impressive," Draco commented.

Hermione also looked in this moment. "Swoooon," she thought to herself as she took in his look. For once, his perfectly slicked-back hair was slightly messy and hanging in his silvery-grey eyes. The look was fierce—and enough to make Hermione get butterflies in her stomach.

Draco was wearing a black button-down dress shirt with a white undershirt. He also wore black slacks with impossibly shiny black shoes. The ensemble gave him a "dangerously sexy" look that all guys wish they could pull off, but only few could.

"So," Hermione finally spoke. "What are _you _supposed to be?"

The Slytherin surveyed himself and then gave a small shrug. "Well," he replied thoughtfully. "If you're the Night's First Star, then I suppose I am the Dark Side of the Moon."

This was enough to make Hermione chortle. "Creative!" she said finally. "It definitely fits you."

He laughed too, and then drew her into an embrace. The pair of them waited outside the Great Hall's doors for awhile, simply enjoying each other's presence. A million thoughts were running through both of their heads, but for the moment, nothing else mattered, and it was just the two of them. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Draco broke the silence.

"So, shall we go in?"

Hermione looked at him apprehensively. "I suppose we should…" she said, trailing off.

Draco seemed to read her thoughts and made her look into his eyes. "Hermione, don't worry about what everyone else thinks. All that matters is you and me, and if people get jealous or upset about that, then who cares?"

Hermione gave him a small smile. He was right, she knew, but she was mostly worried about how Ron and Harry would react. Would they hate her? She bit her lip as she thought. "Well, Harry _did _say as long as I was happy…" Looking up at Draco, the brunette decided that she most definitely was.

"Okay," the prefect said. "Let's go in."

"Brilliant." Draco clasped Hermione's hand and rested his other on the door handle. "Here we go…" he opened the door and Hermione was overwhelmed by the sight.

First of all, the whole place was glittering—with candles, with fairies and with faces. The house tables were removed, and smaller tables were set up around the dance floor. Even though outside the stars were shining, enchanted snow was falling lazily from the ceiling. The Hall had a warm feeling, and Hermione was reveling in it.

That is, before she caught the reactions of everyone around them.

It seemed like every pair of eyes were on them. Hermione could feel that they were under scrutiny, but Draco was entirely unfazed. She looked over at him and he gave her a small smile, along with a squeeze of her hand. This gave her the courage to look around.

Parvati and Lavender were standing off to the side and pretty much showed everyone else's reaction. That is, they were unblinking with their mouths open. The only three people who had different ones were Harry, Ginny and Ron. Ginny knew this was coming, and looked cool about everything. Harry was shocked, but Hermione knew that he was a good enough of a friend to her to at least act like he was okay with everything. And Ron was…well, Ron. That can only mean one thing.

"What the bloody hell are you _doing_?!" he shouted, drawing the attention of every living thing in the room. "Have you gone mental? That is MALFOY'S hand that you happen to be holding." The redhead was visibly shaking with rage.

Hermione didn't know what else to do but let this run its course. However, Draco wasn't going to let her supposed friend tear her apart. He had to say something to calm the situation down.

"Come on, Weasley," he said, his voice free of disdain and jest. "Why don't we talk about this, man to man? Just be real with each other…away from everyone else. Agreed?" Draco held out his hand for Ron to shake.

Ron didn't move.

Suddenly, Allison came up from behind Ron and Hermione noticed her for the first time. "Ron…" she said softly as she placed a hand his arm. "You don't want to make an ass out of yourself. Just listen to what he has to say."

This seemed to persuade him because he gave the blonde boy a quick handshake. With this action, everyone started breathing again and figured that it was okay. If Ron and Malfoy could shake hands, then this must not be that big of a deal. Of course, this is exactly what Draco thought would happen, and it made Hermione feel more at ease.

"We'll be back in little while, Hermione," Draco said. "And don't worry." He added in a whisper, so only she could hear.

"Yes," Ron interjected. "That is, _if _a certain someone manages not to get his ass kicked." With this, the two sixteen-year olds walked outside.

13.13.13

"So," Ron said to Draco once they got outside. "What do you want with Hermione?"

Draco sighed inaudibly and steeled himself for what was looking like a loooong conversation. "Well, I would assume it was obvious, Weasley."

"Hey!" The redhead cut in. "If you don't want me to make this hell for you, then I suggest you lose the sarcasm."

"You're right. Look, I know you probably think that I'm making my feelings for Hermione up just to hurt her or to get back at you and Potter, but that's not how it is."

Ron snorted. "Like I haven't heard that one before." Of course, Ron really haven't heard that one before, but he wasn't about to admit that to someone like Malfoy.

"Weasley, I'm trying to be honest here, so the least you could do is just listen for a minute."

Ron thought about this for a moment and decided that he could do that. "Okay."

Having his attention, Draco considered what he wanted to say. Finally, he took a deep breath and started. "I really do like Hermione, and I'm not looking to hurt her or anyone else. I know that you and Hermione are really close and that you feel protective of her, but so do I. I'm not asking you to be my friend, just that you accept me enough to let me go out with one of your best friends. Other than that, I can't think of anything else I can say that will convince you."

"Well, it seems like you're not lying…" Ron stated. "But that doesn't mean I'm totally okay with all of this, or that I trust you. To me, you will always be a lying, sneaky little ferret."

"Understandable," Draco interjected. "I wouldn't expect you to after everything I've done."

"Exactly," the redhead voiced. "So I guess what I'm saying is that I won't stand in the way of you two going out, but I _will _be obligated to kick your ass if you do anything to her."

"You could try," Draco muttered.

"What was that?"

"Hmm? Oh, I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

Ron looked at the slightly shorter boy skeptically. "Fine. I guess we're done here then." With this, he stalked off without a backward glance to Draco.

"That went well," Malfoy said before walking in after him.

13.13.13

As Ron and Draco went off to talk, Hermione took the opportunity to take a peek at everyone's costumes, and to mingle, of course. First, she walked up to Allison.

"Thanks," Hermione said appreciatively. "I'm glad you got him to be reasonable…I was never able to do that."

"Oh, it's no problem," Allison replied with a laugh. "As long as it's all okay in the end."

Hermione looked at the dress she was wearing. It was floor-length and seemed to flow about when she walked. The whole thing was done in shades of pink—it had a dark pink underlay with a sheer pale pink fabric done over it. Her hair was pulled up into soft curls, with a few loose tendrils accenting her face. Allison's make up was done simply—but her face was accented with a circlet of pink gems. Hermione could only guess what the costume was, but she knew that Allison looked fabulous in it.

"You look great," the brunette voiced. "I love your costume—it's all very…pink."

"Yeah, well, I'm here to provide color contrast," Allison replied. "And, I am representing the great and all-powerful element of Love…in case you were wondering."

"I was, indeed. And, you look it!" Hermione stayed and talked with Allison for awhile, and was relieved to find that there were no negative feelings floating between the two of them. Finally, Hermione left with the promise that she would talk to her later and went off to where Harry and Ginny were sitting.

"Hey," Harry said, rather tightly when he saw Hermione.

"Hi…" Hermione replied in a timid voice. "So…what do you think about…all of this?"

"Well," Harry started. "I'm not totally okay with this…but I think I can manage to at least be civil towards Malfoy. I meant what I said last night…as long as you're happy, I don't care who you're with."

The prefect was waiting tensely, but let out a sigh of relief once she heard what he had to say. She smiled and gave him a huge hug. "I _am _happy. Thank you so much for understanding, Harry."

"No problem," he said, green eyes dancing. "Now all you have to deal with is Ron."

Hermione's smile slipped a few notches, and shrugged. "I can only hope he forgets his old grudges."

"Maybe," Ginny piped up. "But if I know Ron…" She trailed off with a weak shrug.

"Okay, well I think I'm going to go mingle some more," Hermione stated, wanting to get away from the uncomfortable situation. "I'll see you guys later."

The next person that she ran into was Sam Lovegood. She decided to be friendly and started to walk up to them, but was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Hello, all!" He said jovially. "Welcome to the Christmas Masquerade. As a special treat, Elixir has come to play for you!" With this statement, the crowd erupted in cheers. Elixir was the newest band among the wizarding community and played all types of music—from jazz to rock. "Now, without further ado, I officially start this ball!" Alas, laughter and general merriment then ensued.

Hermione clapped and cheered with everyone else and then walked up to Sam. "Hello, Sam," she said.

"Greetings, Earthling!" Sam replied. He was wearing a black muscle shirt, black cargo pants and what looked like a bulletproof vest. Next to him was a girl that Hermione didn't quite recognize. The girl had on a red dress that had a black beaded overlay, and wore an infectious smile on her face. She had dark brown hair that was done up in an elegant bun.

"Hi," Hermione said to her. "I don't believe I know you, I'm Hermione Granger."

The girl held her hand out and replied, "Rose Dewitt Bukater."

"Oh, uh okay…" Hermione said as she shook her hand, swearing she heard the name from some movie. Just then, Kristin came up from behind her and spoke to her.

"Her real name is Jennifer Foster, but she only speaks in lines from the movie _Titanic._ So, I guess that makes them kind of perfect for each other."

Hermione turned around and took a good look at Kristin. She was wearing deep green dress robes that brought out her eyes. Hermione was jealous, deciding that Kristin was one of those people who didn't have to try very hard to look great. Kristin saw her looking at her robes, and shrugged.

"I'm not really the kind of person who gets too dressed up," she explained, laughing. "But I figured that this was good enough."

"Well, you look great either way," Hermione replied. "Who are you here with?"

"Thanks. I'm here with Michael Corner, actually, but we're just friends."

Suddenly, Hermione remembered that she was originally talking to Sam. Turning to him, he asked, "And who are you supposed to be?"

"Officer Jack Traven."

"It's from _Speed_," Kristin clarified.

"Oh," Hermione said. "Well then."

Just then, music something similar to the Tango started. Sam grabbed Jennifer so they were cheek to cheek and started to cut across the room. The last thing Hermione heard from them was Jennifer exclaiming, "I'll never let go, Jack! I'll never let go!"

Hermione turned away from them, noting that Kristin had wandered off somewhere. As she was walking back to where Harry and Ginny were seated, she saw Ron and Draco reenter then Hall from the corner of her eye. She turned to them apprehensively and evaluated their expressions. "Well, at least Ron looks calmer," she thought to herself. "And Draco doesn't seem to have any open wounds…so I guess that's a good sign."

The brunette walked up to Ron, hoping that he wouldn't start yelling again. When he didn't fly of the handle, she approached him cautiously. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied, sounding better. "Can we talk…in private?" Hermione turned to Draco to tell him she would be back in a little bit, and then walked outside with Ron.

"So," she said. "How did things go?"

"They went…okay," Ron replied. "It seemed like Malfoy was being honest, but you can never be sure with a ferret like himself."

"Oh…"

"But," the redhead went on. "I told him that if he ever tried anything funny, that I would most definitely kick his ass."

Hermione smiled. "Of course."

Ron smiled back at her. "So I guess I'm like twenty percent okay with this, and eighty percent wanting to gauge his eyes out…well, maybe more like fourteen, eighty-six."

"That works for me." The two of them exchanged hugs and then walked back to the Great Hall. Before they went in, however, Hermione asked him what his costume was, considering he was wearing the deep blue dress robes that Fred and George bought for him.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" He replied. When Hermione shook her head, he went on. "I am Peace. Get it? Peace and Love?"

Hermione chortled, which indicated that she did, in fact, get it. They walked into the hall, and then parted ways—Ron off to find Allison and Hermione to find Draco. Soon, she spotted him standing in a corner. Hermione admired they way the candlelight played off his features, and then walked up to him.

"Hey," he said once she was in earshot. "Is everything okay?"

Hermione looked back to Ron and Harry, and then replied, "Yea…I think it is." She smiled at him and pulled him into a quick kiss.

"You look breathtaking," Draco whispered. "You really, truly, honestly do."

Hermione promptly blushed. "Since when does the big bad Draco Malfoy have such a sensitive side?"

This roused a deep chuckle from Draco. "I've always had it, of course," he said. "I just needed the right person to bring it out." He then pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her forehead. "How about we dance, eh?"

The prefect raised one of her eyebrows. "You dance? Why, you are just full of surprises tonight."

"Yes, I know. It is simply ruining my mysterious aura."

Now it was Hermione's time to laugh. "Sorry to disappoint you, Draco dear, but you _never _had a mysterious aura."

"Not even a little one?" he asked, pouting.

"Okay…maybe a _teeny _one."

The blonde boy shrugged, seemingly satisfied with that one. "That works. So, dancing or no?"

"Yes," the brunette replied, laughing a little as Draco pulled her out onto the dance floor.

A swing song started up, so they had to weave their way through the dancers. They walked past Sam and Jennifer, who were dancing in such a way that involved much flailing of the arms and legs. "I'm flying, Jack!" Jennifer yelled as they walked past.

"Interesting," Draco commented.

"Don't ask," Hermione replied, laughing.

Finally, they found a spot where they could dance about free from injury. Draco quickly caught the beat and led Hermione in a few fast-paced dance steps. Involved was much twirling, kicking and spin-outs. The pair of them continued in this fashion for the better part of thirty minutes. "I guess he really _can _dance," Hermione thought to herself, during one of the many twirls. "I really can't believe him…"

As the latest song came to an end, Draco pulled Hermione into a small kiss, and they clapped with the rest of the crowd. "How about we get something to drink?" Hermione suggested.

"Sure," he replied. "I'll go get some and you can find a seat."

"Alright," Hermione voiced. She walked over to where Allison and Ginny were sitting. Ever since Hermione became okay with Allison being Ron's girlfriend, Ginny warmed up to her considerably. "Hey. Where are the guys?"

"Getting us drinks," Ginny replied. "But that's not important. Sit down, and tell us about this thing with Draco!"

"Indeed, indeed!" Allison piped up. "When did this happen?"

"Well…I really have no idea. It just kind of…did."

"Okay, then," Allison said.

"AND!" Ginny voiced dramatically. "He is oh-so-hot."

"Yeah, he is, isn't he?" She stated, sending all three girls into a giggling fit.

"What's going on here?" said a male voice from behind them. The trio turned to see Ron standing by Harry with Draco standing a few paces behind. All of them had two drinks in their hands.

"Oh, nothing," Ginny replied innocently. "Just talking. You know…girl stuff."

Ron accepted this, though Draco and Harry still seemed a bit skeptical. They guys sat down next to their dates and then lapsed into somewhat of an awkward silence. Harry and Ron seemed to not know what to talk about, now that one of their enemies had joined the group.

Finally, Draco attempted bravely at making conversation. "So…how 'bout them Wasps?"

"They played the _best _game this past weekend. Did you read the overview in the _Daily Prophet_?" Harry said, following his lead. Soon, all three of the boys fell into a Quidditch conversation, and the tension seemed to ease a little.

Suddenly, Ginny squealed, which effectively broke up the conversation. "I _love _this song!" She pulled Harry onto the dance floor, much to his chagrin, and started twirling about to the beat of the music. Harry just kind of stood there and tried to be cool.

"Looks like fun. Come on, Ron," Allison said next, pulling Ron out next to Harry and Ginny. Ron was doing much of the same thing as Harry.

"Well," Hermione stated. "Shall we go too?"

"Sure," Draco said, smiling. "After all, I could never pass up the chance to show people how I am better than Potter and Weasley at something."

"Draco," Hermione said in a warning tone as they reached the other two couples.

"Kidding!" He replied, falling into step. Next to him, Ron coughed in such a way that it sounded oddly like "whipped."

The six of them danced, in the girls' and Draco's case, and kind of swayed, in Ron's and Harry's case, for most of the night. Every now and then, Ron and Harry would escape from the dance floor to get a drink, leaving Ginny and Allison to dance and talk amongst themselves.

Hermione and Draco would mill about the Hall, talking to people and simply enjoying each other's company. On most of these rounds, they would catch bits and pieces of what seemed like very, erm, _interesting _conversations.

"So then," Dean said to Lavender. "She said, 'Keep your horned toads away from my hydrangeas!'" Hearty chuckles then followed.

"I woke up, only to find that my owl had left 'presents' on my bedspread, and I'm not talking about the cookies my mum sent!"

"I'm afraid of milk…"

This last one came from a Hufflepuff Hermione didn't recognize, but she felt sorry for him all the same. However, her favorite tidbit came from when they walked past Sam and Colin Creevey on their way back to Allison and Ginny.

Sam was speaking in a dramatic way (go figure), and Colin seemed to be listening raptly. "If this bus goes under fifty miles per hour, it will EXPLODE!"

"HO-LY CRAP!" Colin exclaimed, and then promptly began taking pictures around the room.

Hermione and Draco both had a good chortle over this. Of course, Draco had no idea what a "bus" was, but he decided to just go with it.

Just as they reached the other two girls, Elixir started up a slow song. Seeing as they missed the first few slow songs, Draco turned to Hermione and held out his hand. "May I have this dance, milady?"

"Why, yes, good sir," Hermione replied, laughing a bit.

The two of them joined the other couples on the dance floor. Draco pulled her closer to him, and they started to sway to the beat. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Allison and Ginny have a bit of trouble with getting Ron and Harry to dance with them, but in the end they reluctantly followed. She laughed a bit at this, knowing that secretly, they were enjoying themselves.

Hermione laid her head on Draco's shoulder and breathed in his spicy cologne. Being with him in that moment, the brunette knew that everything was going to turn out alright. She didn't know how to explain it, but she liked the feeling nonetheless.

Finally, the song came to an end and Draco pulled Hermione into a dip, making her cry out in surprise. "Don't worry," he whispered in her ear. "I'll never let you fall."

Just then, a blood-curdling scream tore through the night.


	14. Snape's Hairy, Hairy Legs

Disclaimer: Want to know how great owning Harry Potter is? Ask J.K. Rowling! Alas, I wouldn't know.

A/N: ACK! Sorry this took so damn long—I hadn't intended to. Thank you all so much for reviewing! It makes me feel so special. Sadly, this is the second last chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. Be sure to review again!

_Snape's__ Hairy, Hairy Legs_

Draco quickly pulled Hermione back to her feet and searched for the source of the scream, much like everyone else in the room was doing. The band stopped playing, and everything went deadly silent.

Parvati Patil ran into the Great Hall, looking thoroughly distraught. She ran into the middle of the room, breathing heavily. "It's horrible!" she screamed. Hermione ran up to her.

"Parvati!" she cried. "What happened?"

The shaking girl fell to her knees but still holding on to the prefect. "I saw…" she began. After taking another deep breath, she went on. "I saw Snape's hairy, hairy legs!" Then, she promptly broke down into tears.

"That's IT?!" someone yelled from across the room.

"Oh and there are hundreds of Death Eaters storming in from the Forbidden Forest," she stated calmly.

The effect of this news was tumultuous. In a word, it was chaos. Nobody wanted to be caught in one place if the Death Eaters were coming. The younger students were running about fearfully, while most of the older ones looked as if they didn't know what to do—_if _they could do anything at all.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore then yelled, effectively shutting everyone up. "Prefects, please escort the students to you house common rooms. Move quickly and quietly, and do not come out of your dormitories under any circumstances. Teachers, you know what to do."

Instantaneously, everyone started moving. The teachers followed Dumbledore, setting their faces and slipping out of the Hall. Prefects were shouting to the students, trying to herd them up. Hermione turned towards Draco.

"I'll have to see you later," she said, sounding calmer than she felt. "Promise me you won't try to do anything about this."

Draco looked into her eyes and wondered how she knew what he was thinking. He felt that he should fight against these people—the ones he was brought up to be like. It would be something that would finally prove that he had changed.

"You don't have to prove anything," Hermione interjected, cutting into his reverie. Again, she seemed to know what he was thinking. "Promise me." She repeated.

"I promise," he whispered, pulling her into a quick kiss. "And you better not do anything either."

"I won't." With this, the pair separated and went to round up their house students.

"Everyone, follow us," Hermione cried to the Gryffindors, standing alongside Ron. "Get into one line and stay calm!" All of the students quickly obliged, heeding Hermione's authoritative voice.

When everyone got into line, Hermione turned towards Ron. "I'll lead the front, and you can bring up the rear, okay?" Ron nodded his assent and then moved towards the end of the line. Feeling confident that all the students were present, Hermione led the way to the Gryffindor tower.

14.14.14

Harry slipped around the corner, trying to draw as little attention to him as possible. He knew very well that he should be in the Gryffindor common room at the moment and not out looking for trouble. "I have to do this," he whispered, as if trying to justify his own rebellion. "I have to."

He turned another corner and was met with Mrs. Norris. Figuring that he was already in heaps and heaps of inescapable punishment, Harry quickly decided to give the frickin cat a swift kick in her furry little bottom side. He also just a quickly decided to give a battle cry of "Who put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp?!" The cat, wholly not expecting such a violent assault, gave a yelp of surprise and scurried away once she was securely on solid ground again.

"That one was for you, Ron," Harry said into the enveloping darkness of the corridor. "May that damned cat never cross our paths again." With a moment's reflection on whether that statement would ever prove to be true, Harry continued on in his quest of severely maiming as many Death Eaters as he could—for his, his parents' and Sirius' sakes.

Finally, the raven-haired boy stopped in front of a stone gargoyle. Harry rechecked the Marauder's Map, which he carried with him everywhere now, and made sure that the passage behind the sculpture would lead where he wanted to go. After confirming his suspicions, he put the map away, muttered a spell, and crawled into the opening that the gargoyle left.

Harry reemerged on the far side of the castle. He wanted to be able to sneak up on the attack, so no teacher would spot him and make him return to his common room. It was about time that he started helping in the physical fight against Voldemort, if he had any intention of finally defeating him by himself later on.

He walked towards the sounds of shouts and screams, only to be met with a terrible sight. The teachers and Professor Dumbledore were trying to fend off at least two hundred Death Eaters. The former seemed to be doing well enough, but Harry knew that they couldn't keep doing it alone for much longer.

"Well," he whispered to himself as he saw this. "It's now or never…" With this, the Boy Who Lived mustered up his courage and prepared to head into the fray.

14.14.14

"Hermione!"

The addressed girl turned her head to see who was calling out for her. It was a miracle that she could hear at all, considering everyone from Gryffindor was crowded into the common room and talking very loudly about what could be going on downstairs. However, she managed to spot Ginny rushing through the crowd towards her. From the look on her face, Hermione decided that something was really wrong.

"What's wrong?" the brunette asked quickly once Ginny was within earshot.

"It's Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, looking around worriedly. "I can't find him anywhere."

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, already searching the crowd. "Maybe he's with Ron. Let's find him."

The two went in search for Ron, direly hoping that he would know of Harry's whereabouts. It was hard for them to push around the students, because Hermione insisted on comforting every group of first and second years she encountered—she didn't know what else she could do. Finally, they spotted Ron coming down from the boys' dormitory.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled once they got to the edge of the staircase. He came all the way down to them and looked at them inquiringly.

"Where's Harry?" Ginny asked, obviously trying to sound calmer than she actually was.

Now Ron was seemed confused. "You mean he's not with you guys?"

Hermione, Ginny and Ron looked at each other and then all realized the same thing. "He went to fight," they said in unison. Immediately, the three of them started to push their way back through the crowd and to the portrait hole.

"Wait," Hermione said once they got outside. "Maybe we should think about this for a second. I mean, we are about to head into a 'battle' with no adults and no substantial training, look for one of our friends, and at the same time managing to _not die_!" Promptly, she began to hyperventilate.

"Breathe, Hermione," Ginny said, gently shaking the older girl's shoulders. "Just _breathe_."

Hermione followed her instructions and effectively calmed down quite a bit. She randomly thought about how weird they must look—creeping about the corridors in their costumes, willingly searching out trouble. At this time, Ron felt the need to speak up.

"What other choice do we have? We can't just leave Harry out there all by himself and depend on him not to get himself killed. You know he believes he has to save everyone, so doesn't it make sense that we should be there to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid?"

Hermione, never one to argue with logic, simply nodded. As much as she didn't like this, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if something happened to Harry because she wasn't there to help him.

"Alright then," Ron stated. "Let's go." He then started walking resolutely down the corridor, in the direction of the Great Hall.

"Ron!" Ginny hissed. "Don't just go barreling along—you do realize that a Death Eater may have sneaked in, don't you?"

"Oh, right," he replied. The three of them then proceeded in a much quieter manner, with their wands out in case they came upon anyone along the way. They went on in this fashion for the next ten minutes, occasionally stopping because Hermione's paranoia made her hear footsteps in the slightest noises. Once they reached the Great Hall, however, she was certain she heard something.

"Did you hear that?" she asked the other two for the fifteenth time that night. "I swear I hear someone!"

"No…" Ginny and Ron both replied in the same tired voice. If they weren't sure they would need Hermione in this fight, they would have left her in the common room. "C'mon."

Hermione reluctantly followed them, but didn't let her guard down. Again, she heard footsteps from somewhere in the far corner of the Hall. "There it is again!" she whispered frantically. Suddenly, a tall figure came out of the shadows and walked towards the trio. Ginny and Hermione jumped while Ron stepped in front of the two—all of them had their wands out and a spell ready on their lips.

"Don't worry," said the figure. "It's me." He stepped into a shaft of moonlight that was falling across the floor and they were able to see that it was Draco.

"I _told _you I heard someone," Hermione stated in a whisper to Ron and Ginny. Then she rounded on Draco. "And I thought I told you not to go out!"

"I thought I told you the same thing," Draco retorted while pulling her into a tight embrace. "What are you doing anyway? Where's Potter?"

"Well, we think he is out there," Ron replied as he gestured outside. "So we figured we should go find him before he gets himself killed. What are _you _doing?" He added this last bit in a suspicious tone, still not trusting Draco in the slightest.

"I figure this could be a chance for me to prove I'm not one of them—and that I never intend to be," he replied. Ron had a look on his face that said he highly doubted Draco wasn't, in fact, already a Death Eater. Catching this, Draco rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt to his elbows, revealing his sinewy forearms. "Look. No Dark Mark."

Ron, Ginny and Hermione could see quite plainly that the Slytherin was telling the truth. Hermione would never admit this to Draco, but she was really relieved—even though they were together, she still wasn't one hundred percent sure that he could shake his father's influence.

"Alright then," Hermione interjected, trying to alleviate some of the tension between the two boys. "So I think we should set some ground rules here."

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "We only go out there to find Harry and then bring him back. No one is going to try and play the hero with taking on every Death Eater out there. That means you, Draco and Ron."

Both boys looked at the ground sheepishly and wondered how they became so predictable. Once they nodded their understanding, Hermione picked up with where Ginny left off.

"If we do have to fend off a Death Eater, which," she paused, looking around at the other three people. "Is very likely, then we only aim to injure, but _never _kill. I don't care what you might say; I know none of us wants that over our heads."

"And we stick together," Ron added firmly. "No matter what—we are not going to leave each other." The four of them nodded their assent to all of these ground rules and then walked in a line towards the heavy oak doors. Ron and Draco opened one of the doors and they stepped outside.

They were met with a sight that would be scary to anyone, let alone a couple of sixteen year olds…and one fifteen year old, of course. Teachers and Death Eaters were shouting spells all over and flashes of red, green and purple were flying everywhere. Ron, Hermione and Ginny noticed that some of the members of the Order had shown up and were fighting as well.

"How can there be so many of them?!" Ginny cried, voicing exactly what Hermione was thinking. "I mean, I thought a lot of them were arrested after the Ministry of Magic raid last year!"

"I know how," Draco spoke up, looking grave. "It's a new generation of Death Eaters—students who have recently graduated or who are the children of Death Eaters. I know a few people from my year that are probably out there—the ones that are way too eager to please Voldemort."

"Draco," Hermione said, turning towards him. "Please tell me you didn't know anything about this. Please."

He seemed surprised that she would think something like this. "Of course I didn't!" he shouted. Draco grabbed her by the shoulders. "Look at me, Hermione. I would _never _keep something like this from anyone, okay?"

Hermione nodded to show that she understood and then he pulled her into a hug. "Please be careful, Hermione," he whispered frantically into her ear. The four of them knew that they would be discovered soon and had to find Harry as quickly as they could.

"I will be," Hermione replied before giving Draco a short kiss. Together, they all went off into the lawn, trying their hardest not to be seen.

They moved quickly, keeping close to the edge of the building. Hermione figured that Harry would have taken a secret passageway out and wouldn't go too far into the battle. Or, at least she hoped that was what he would do.

"_Stupefy_!" Draco called out from behind her. She quickly turned around to see that he had stunned a Death Eater that was creeping up from behind them. Hermione added a binding spell on top of that.

"Well, that's one down," Ron said, looking around for any more Death Eaters. The majority of them seemed to have been held back by the teachers near the Forbidden Forest, but some of them had managed to get past. These escapees were the ones that the members of the Order took care of.

"Let's keep moving," Ginny spoke up, "The sooner we find Harry then the sooner we can get back inside."

The rest of them silently agreed with her and pressed on. Thankfully enough, they were only met with six other Death Eaters, all of which were easily taken care of with a stunner, a binding spell and a disarming spell, just in case. Thus, the four of them were acquiring quite a collection of wands. After the sixth person, however, Hermione suddenly stopped and pointed.

"Is that Harry?" she shouted about the noise. Upon closer inspection, she didn't need the answer—she knew for a fact that it was. Only one problem though—he was lying on the ground, seemingly tied up, with a Death Eater looming over him. "Hurry!" she yelled.

The four of them ran up to Harry, frantically thinking about what to do. When they were in five feet of him, they heard something that was about to make their worst fears come true. The Death Eater had his wand pointed directly at Harry, who was thrashing about on the ground, and was speaking all too clearly. "_Avada__ Ked_…"

"No!!" Ginny and Hermione screamed in unison, somehow frozen in their spots. It seemed to them as if time was now moving in slow motion. Suddenly, Draco sprung into motion.

The blonde Slytherin jumped between the Death Eater and Harry while yelling, "_Silencio_! _Stupefy_!" in rapid succession without even taking a breath. This seemed to snap the two girls and Ron to attention. He and Ginny immediately ran over to Harry while Hermione went over to Draco and the Death Eater.

"_Incarcerous_!" Hermione said once she reached them. This bound up the unknown Death Eater—Draco already had his wand in his back pocket. Instantly, Hermione flung her arms around him. "You could have died!" she yelled.

Draco, feeling thoroughly smothered, croaked, "If you don't let go then I will!"

"Oh, sorry…" Hermione replied quietly. For a moment, she looked up at him in something close to amazement. "I can't believe you did that. It's just…wow." Just then, Ron and Ginny came over, supporting Harry between them.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed once she saw him. "Are you alright? What did he do to you?"

"I'm fine," Harry stated, even though he was physically drained. "He snuck up from behind me as I was dealing with him," he said while gesturing to about five feet from then. It was only now that they noticed another stunned Death Eater nearby. Ginny and Ron bound him and took his wand before Harry continued. "He used the Cruciatus Curse on me—and then tied me up when I was still on ground."

The four of them gasped at this news, and Hermione had a new found hate for the person under the mask. Finally not being able to take it anymore, she stooped down and ripped off the hood of the Death Eater's robes. She recognized the face immediately.

"You whore!" she yelled at the stunned body. Under the mask was Theodore Nott—one of Hogwarts' very own students. Hermione, in a fit of rage, went so far as to repeatedly kick him the ribs.

"Whoa, there," Draco said, restraining his girlfriend from murder. "You don't want to kill him, because then you wouldn't be any better than him."

"Oh, I won't kill him," Hermione retorted sweetly. "Just maim him enough so he can't do anything like this again!" However, she was no match to Draco's strength and had to finally submit herself to attending to her other friends.

"Draco," Harry said after he was finished with Hermione. "I just…I want to…thank you. I have no idea how I will ever repay you."

"Hey, don't worry about it," the Slytherin replied. "Just consider it a sort of payment for all the years I was a total arse to you and Weasley here. Deal?" Draco stuck out his hand for Harry to shake.

"Deal," the slightly smaller boy said, shaking his hand. "I don't know about Ron though…"

Ron, who was standing nearby, voiced, "Nah. I'll accept that too." He also extended his hand and shook Draco's. From this moment on, the two boys could not help but trust their once sworn enemy.

"Okay, well I hate to break up this little moment here, but we really need to get the hell out of here," Ginny interjected, bringing everyone back to earth. "Hermione, you and Draco go first and we'll be right behind you."

"Wait," Harry voiced. "We can go back through the passage I came through. So we'll go first and you two bring up the rear. Alright then, this way." He started off back in the opposite direction of the front doors.

"I'm having a bad feeling," Hermione whispered to Draco as they walked along, wands out and vigilant for and Death Eaters. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked looking at her with worry etched in all of his features.

"I mean that I feel like someone or something is watching us…or is going to come out at us," she tried to relate to Draco. "I don't know…let's just get inside."

The five of them didn't come across anyone for the majority of time that it took to get to the passageway. It seemed like all of the Death Eaters had been held out and contained by the Order members and professors. However, Hermione just couldn't shake that feeling.

Just as they got to the entrance, someone suddenly jumped out from a bush on Hermione's left. "_Diffindo_!" yelled a woman's voice, with their wand pointing at Hermione's stomach. The prefect screamed and then crumpled to the ground.

"_Petrificus__ Totalus_!" Draco bellowed at the unknown person. Unfortunately, his spell missed and the person had already run away. He dipped down to check on Hermione and looked at her with shock. The spell had created a long gash across her midsection. He quickly cast a temporary healing charm and then, picking her up in one smooth movement, started running with her towards the entrance.

"Potter! Where does this lead?" he called out frantically, breaking into an all-out sprint.

"Right outside the Hospital Wing!"

Draco carefully emerged from behind the stone gargoyle and ran to the Hospital entrance. "Madam Pomfrey!" he called out. She immediately appeared at his side and led him to an empty bed. He briefly noticed that most of the beds were already occupied with other people who were in the battle.

"Out, out!" Madam Pomfrey cried once Hermione was lying down. "She'll be okay but I need you to wait outside for her."

Draco was reluctant to go but decided that it would be best for Hermione. Already, he was beating himself over the fact that he couldn't have prevented this. Soon, Ron and Ginny joined him after getting Harry a Replenishing Potion.

The three of them sat in silence—too anxious and worried for Hermione to talk. The minutes seemed to creep by as the waited to be able to see her. At some point, Draco got up and started pacing outside of the door.

"Would you stop that?!" Ron cried. "Your pacing is driving me barmy!"

"Sorry," the blonde boy said absentmindedly. Finally, Madam Pomfrey came out. "How is she?" Draco asked right away.

"She's perfectly fine. Whoever cast the spell didn't know fully what they were doing and therefore the wound wasn't very deep. Hermione is resting now, but you can still go in and see her."

The three of them followed her back into the room and went over to Hermione's bed, where Harry was already in a chair waiting. She was sleeping peacefully and was changed from her costume into hospital robes.

"I've given her a Dreamless Sleep Draught, so it will be awhile before she gets up," Madam Pomfrey explained. "But I really must suggest that you lot get back to your common rooms. Under the circumstances, I don't think Dumbledore will be entirely angry with your going out. So I say get some sleep—and take these." She handed each of them vials filled with the Draught.

The four of them nodded, and then got up to leave. Ron, Ginny and Harry all gave Hermione a small hug, while Draco placed a simple kiss on her forehead. They walked out of the Wing together and then went their separate ways back to their common rooms. At least the Gryffindors did.

Draco got halfway back before he decided that he couldn't leave Hermione alone. He snuck back to the Hospital Wing and did something Malfoys never did—beg.

"Please, Madam Pomfrey, I really can't leave her by herself. I promise I won't try and wake her up or bother any of the other patients…I just need to be here."

"Oh, alright," she said. "But only for a little while…you need your sleep too." She then left the two of them alone.

Draco kept his promise and only whispered softly in her ear for most of the night. However, he did not leave and get his own rest like he was supposed to, but he doubted it would help him anyway. Just before dawn, Draco summoned some parchment and a quill and wrote a long letter to Hermione. His father was coming in an hour, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't very much like seeing Draco with her.

Twenty minutes later, Draco sealed the letter and placed it on Hermione's bedside table. "I'll see you soon," he whispered as he kissed her on the forehead again. "I promise to be right back at your side when you need me…I don't know how just yet, but I will."


	15. Falling

Disclaimer: Okay, I have two plans to get the right of owning Harry Potter: One, I could fly on a nice plane, go to England and find J. K. Rowling's house. Once there, I shall hop the twenty-foot-high barbed wire fence, feed her guard dogs thousands of doggie treats and then climb up the trellis through the second story window and CAPTURE her! Then, I shall throw her into a pit of screaming eleven year olds who have those lightning bolt stickers on their heads and little sticks, pointy sticks! After she has fallen victim, I will steal her identity and thus own Harry Potter. The Second Way is to go to Media Play at midnight, break into the store whilst singing the Pink Panther/Mission Impossible theme song. Inside, I will do several army rolls, ending with an army crawl dash to the Harry Potter display. I will then take my black felt-tip marker, the Crayola kind, and cross out J.K.R.'s name on ALL of the books! Then, I shall substitute my own name and VOILA! I am suddenly owner. (Do Not Try This At Home…Or Ever) Ahem.

A/N: AH! The last chapter…so sad. More at the end…

_Falling_

"Draco…" Hermione whispered, slowly opening her eyes and scanning the room. She could have sworn that he was just there, speaking in her ear and kissing her forehead. "I guess it was a dream." Even as she thought this, she couldn't help feeling that he was there somewhere.

Carefully, the brunette pulled herself out of bed, trying to work out the kinks from sleeping at an odd angle. As she stretched, she found out that she had a large bruise on her stomach, and a faint scar that she knew would have for the rest of her life. Hermione then noticed a chair had been placed by her bed, and that it still had a faint body indentation on it. She walked over to it and felt that the seat was still warm.

"He _was _just here then!" Hermione whispered to herself. "I wonder why he didn't say goodbye." Just then, a large envelope sitting on her beside table caught her eye. Her name was written on the front in neat handwriting—one that she had come to know as Draco's. She picked up the letter, sunk back into the bed and began reading.

_Dear Hermione,_

_ I'm sorry that I had to leave without saying goodbye, but I promised Madam Pomfrey that I wouldn't wake you, and I couldn't help agreeing that you needed your rest. I'm afraid that by the time you get around to reading this, I'll already be gone for the holiday. Father insisted on picking me up first thing this morning, most likely because he heard all about this attack. I just hope he doesn't figure out that I was fighting against the Death Eaters. But that's not the point of this letter._

_ Hermione, I just needed you to know how extremely sorry I am that I couldn't have done something to prevent what happened to you last night. I have a feeling it will be something I will never live down. It just hit me this morning that I could have lost you, just as I finally got around to finding you, if that makes any sense at all. I just don't what I would do if thinking about it turned into actually living it, and so I'm not going to. Not now, anyway._

_ I really want to spend time with you over the holiday, but with my father breathing down my back, I don't know when I'll be able to get away from him. And about my father—I don't think that I should tell him about us, at least not yet. I know that everyone at school might be okay with us, but my father…he just wouldn't understand, at all. The Slytherins already know, of course, but I can handle them. I wish this could be different, but he will never change. I just don't want to put you in any more danger right now—not when these attacks are becoming more frequent. I hate having to hide this, but I hope you can understand._

_ It's almost dawn, so unfortunately I must go—father can't see me here with you. I'll see you after the holidays, assuming that nothing goes wrong in the meantime. Other than this, I just want you to remember that I will always be at your side when you need me, no matter what. There is no place you can go where I won't find you. _

_Love, Draco _

Hermione folded up the letter, silent tears forming in her eyes. "This is silly," She said to herself, trying to get a grip. "You knew that his father would never approve of this. And besides, it's not like Draco is leaving forever—he'll be back after the holidays." But still, it was going to be a long three weeks. Suddenly, she was startled out of her musings.

Madam Pomfrey pulled back the curtain, making Hermione jump backwards and ran into the bedpost, causing her even more pain. "Brilliant," she muttered under her breath before the nurse interrupted again. Hermione vaguely wondered if she heard her talking to herself, but figured it didn't matter either way.

"How are you feeling?"

The prefect tried to collect herself before answering. "I'm feeling much better, except for this bruise on my stomach." She lifted up her shirt slightly so Madam Pomfrey could take a look at it.

"Well," she said. "I figured there would be one. Here, drink this and it should go away." She handed Hermione a vial of dark green liquid that was giving off a foul odor. Of course, it was within her experience that if something looked bad, it tasted twenty times worse.

The brunette quickly downed the whole thing and, as she predicted, almost gagged on the taste. But, she had more important things to worry about. "Can I see my friends now?"

"I suppose," Madam Pomfrey stated reluctantly. "But please be careful walking about. I've already sent Harry Potter back to his room."

"Thank you." Quickly, Hermione pulled on the fresh pair of robes that had been brought to her beside, and walked up to the Gryffindor common room, hoping to find Ron, Ginny and Harry before the rest of the house woke up.

A few minutes later, Hermione pulled herself through the Fat Lady's portrait hole gingerly, trying to move as little as possible. She really didn't expect any of them to be up at this hour, and thought that she would have to wake Ron, Ginny and Harry up in order to speak with them. However, as the common room came into view, she found that her assumptions were wrong.

"Hermione!" Ginny squealed once she saw the brunette emerge from the entrance. "I'm so glad you're alright!" The redhead made to hug the older girl, but stopped midway as if remembering that Hermione was, in fact, in a fight last night. She settled for a pat on the shoulder instead.

"Hey," Hermione replied, trying to come off as cheerful, despite the rather bleak prospects. She looked behind Ginny and saw Ron and Harry sitting by the fireplace—Ron looking tired and Harry looking worried. Chuckling, she added, "It looks like you're the only one excited to see me."

Upon hearing this, Ron and Harry both got up from their seats in what seemed like a silent protest to such an accusation. Harry took a tentative step towards Hermione, not quite sure of how to act.

"Look, Hermione," He began slowly. "I'm sor…"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione interjected. She knew that Harry probably felt guilty about going off on his own last night, and she figured that Harry already had too many other problems and feeling guilty about her shouldn't have been one of them. "What matters is that I'm alright now."

"Well, that's good, because mum's been in a right state about all of this," Ron put in. "So I guess I should tell you all now that she'll be fussing over us more than usual for the next few weeks." Harry and Hermione were going to stay at The Burrow for the holidays since Mrs. Weasley wanted them in her sight.

As they discussed further about when they would be leaving (in an hour) and how (via Floo Powder), Professor McGonagall came in to announce that Dumbledore wanted to see them in his office immediately. The four of them looked at each other before making their way out of the portrait hole and to his office.

15.15.15

"Please close the door behind you, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said as all of them assembled into his office. "I think you know why I asked you to come here."

All four of them paled slightly and looked at their feet. Of course, they all were thinking the same thing: that this was the final straw. Dumbledore was going to finally expel them for all of their rule breaking.

"First off, I want to let you know that I am not going to expel you," the white-haired man spoke, cutting into all of their thoughts. Everyone then let out the breath they had not realized they had been holding. "However, I must say that I am a tad disappointed and would strongly recommend that you refrain from acting so quickly in the future."

"We understand, Professor," Harry voiced timidly, barely looking Dumbledore in the eye. Everyone else nodded their silent agreement before the elderly headmaster went on.

"But what I did want to let know was the details of last night. First of all, everyone came out of the battle just fine, with only a few injuries. Secondly, we think that it was unplanned—owing to the fact that it was more random and not carefully planned, which is not something we would normally expect from Voldemort. Another thing is that most of the Death Eaters that we apprehended are students that attend here. Naturally, they will all be expelled and may even face a sentence in Azkaban.

"Because these Death Eaters were so young, we have reason to believe that this task was something they wanted to do in order to 'prove' themselves, if you will, to Lord Voldemort. However, as some of them did manage to escape, I have reason to believe that you four might still be in danger. Therefore, I ask that you stay as safe as possible over the holidays. Other than that, I can only assure you that the other professors and I will be working to find the escaped Death Eaters. You may all go now."

It took everyone a minute to fully process the information that Dumbledore had just given them, even though it was somewhat obvious that they would have to be on their guard over the holidays—they had been ever since third year. Finally, they walked out of the door, down the steps, and out into the corridor.

Once they were far enough from the Headmaster's office, Ron spoke up. "That was close. I honestly thought we were done for this time!"

"Ron," Hermione replied testily. "You know full well that Dumbledore will always want Harry under his protection—especially now. Do you _really _think he would do something so stupid as to expel him?"

The redheaded boy rolled his eyes. "Oh, like you didn't think he was too."

Hermione, knowing perfectly well that she did think they were going to be expelled, chose to ignore him and walked briskly ahead of them instead. She did feel bad, however, for snapping. But, of course, it had to do absolutely nothing with Draco leaving, because that would just be absurd. Really.

15.15.15

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me, Draco?" Lucius Malfoy asked his son coldly once they stepped out of their fireplace at Malfoy Manor.

Draco, who had been vaguely remembering that he left his rubber ducky at Hogwarts, started slightly at this question. "Does he mean about Hermione and me? I better play stupid, just in case it isn't that."

"I don't believe so, Father," he replied out loud, trying to come off as if he didn't think he was going to be killed right there and then.

"Don't play stupid with me, boy," Lucius spat. "You had better tell me whether or not you knew about this attack last night. The Dark Lord is most displeased, and I wouldn't want to be thrown out of his good graces by my foolish son's mistake."

The seventeen-year-old Slytherin shuddered acutely as he thought of what would happen to his Father. Sure, Draco didn't approve of some of the things Lucius did and wasn't the best role model, but he didn't want to be left suddenly fatherless either. "I knew nothing of it, Father. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to the rest of the school."

"Good," the older man sighed. "And I also assume that I can rest assured that you stayed out of the whole thing entirely. Can you prove my assumptions wrong?"

"No," Draco lied quickly. "I didn't get into it at all." After this clarification, Lucius simply gave a curt nod to his son and then left the room.

"Well, that's a good thing," the blonde boy whispered to himself. "It's better that he doesn't know his own son was fighting against Voldemort alongside a 'Mudblood' in order to save Harry Potter, Public Enemy Number One."

Suddenly, he started laughing as he realized how very ironic this all was. If someone told him at the beginning of the school year that he'd be saving Potter's neck with Hermione's help, Draco would have checked them into St. Mungo's himself. He started walking away slowly, thinking correctly that, besides not seeing Hermione, the holidays weren't going to be all that bad after all.

15.15.15

"And so then I said…" Ron stopped in the middle of telling his story to Harry and Hermione as a rather scary sight fell upon his eyes: Allison was speaking with Mrs. Weasley, and both of them were laughing about something. That something can only be one thing. "Oh, bloody hell," the redhead thought.

"Mum!" Ron cried out as he ran down the last of the stairs and into the entrance hall. "What are you and Allison here talking about?"

"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, only having just noticed Ron was there. "Well, Ginny said that Allison was your new girlfriend so I decided to introduce myself. We were just talking about some of your earlier years."

"Double bloody hell," Ron thought again. "Just what I _thought _they would be talking about. Oh, well. Stay calm and hope that Mum didn't say anything that embarrassing." Out loud, he commented, "Were you now?"

"Oh, yes," Allison interjected, clearing trying to stifle her giggles. "Your mother was just finishing up telling me about the time you ran around outside absolutely starkers because Fred and George told you that the bathtub was going to eat you alive."

Hermione, upon hearing this account, burst out into a violent fit of laughing as she watched Ron's ears turn an extraordinary shade of red.

"Allison," Ron managed to squeak out. "Can I talk to you for a bit?"

Ron practically dragged the Ravenclaw girl to another part of the hall. "Look," he began uncomfortably. "I was really young and if you had Fred and George for brothers you'd…"

"Ron," Allison cut in laughing. "It's alright. Everyone does embarrassing stuff when they are little. I'm more worried about how you're doing—what with that attack last night."

"Oh. Well, you know, it was hard," Ron said, trying to sound tough. "And grueling. But I got through it…everyone did. Though Draco and Harry _did _need a lot of my help." With this, he sighed dramatically.

"Well, I would have been right there with you, you know. But idiotic Flitwick had to go and be all idiotic and charmed the idiotic door shut." Allison said all of this bitterly, and in a great rush. Obviously, she felt the whole thing was, well, was rather idiotic. She stood there for a moment, silently seething.

"But on a brighter note," the blonde continued, rapidly changing her mood. "I learned from your mum that you actually live only about ten minutes away from my house! So, maybe you guys would want to come by sometime over break?"

At this, Ron visibly perked up. "Of course we would! It sounds brilliant!" he said. To himself, however, he thought, "Now maybe I can drag something about her past from her parents." With a malicious glint in his blue eyes, he kissed Allison soundly before returning to the rest of the group.

The six of them exchanged good byes, and Allison promised to have them all come over in a few days. Hermione was a bit preoccupied with her thoughts of Draco, but decided that she could at least try to make the most of her holiday.

15.15.15

"Wakey, wakey! Eggs and bakey!" Ginny screamed whilst hopping on to of the pile of covers and sheets that was Hermione. "It's CHRISTMAS!"

Indeed, it was Christmas morning and Hermione really wasn't enjoying the day so far—and she had only just woken up. "I've been here for a week," the brunette thought. "And I still haven't gotten any word from Draco…not that it matters, of course." Hermione looked about the room, as if expecting someone to hear her thoughts. She didn't want to let on how she was feeling. So, she got up and tried to be as enthusiastic as the red head in front of her.

"Yay!" Hermione exclaimed, trying her best. "Let's go see what we've got, shall we?"

Ginny, acting like a seven-year-old, grabbed the older girl's hand and practically dragged her down the many flights of stairs to the living room. The rest of the Weasley clan and Harry were already there and, by the looks of it, Ginny had woken them all up entirely too early. "I suppose she thought it would be nice to get me up last," the prefect thought sullenly. "Hmm…might as well enjoy the presents while I'm up though!"

The group spent the next two hours exchanging gifts and showing off the new stuff they got. Mrs. Weasley bustled about the lot of them; fussing about making sure everyone liked their sweaters (they did) and asking if they were hungry. After receiving an affirmative from the latter question, she spent the majority of the morning in the kitchen making up the biggest breakfast seen outside of Hogwarts. Of course, it was the most delicious thing any of them had tasted.

Hermione managed to cheer up quite substantially throughout the course of the day—a good breakfast and being with the people you loved will do that to you. However, the highlight of her day was most definitely going to Allison's house.

15.15.15

Around three o'clock, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny all lined up in front of the Weasleys' fireplace in their brand new sweaters. Ron stepped up to the hearth, picked up a pinch of Floo Powder and threw it into the fire. "13 Wexford Lane!" he yelled clearly. Soon, he was gone in a tower of green flame.

Harry stepped up next, repeating what Ron did. Eventually, all four of them arrived in the large parlor of Allison Morell's house. Hermione took note of the warm, cozy feeling the house had—much like the Burrow did. But, before she had any more time to examine, the resident of the house herself came bounding into the room.

"You made it!" Allison screamed before launching herself into Ron's arms for a big hug. She then hugged everyone else in turn. "I'm so glad you could all make it."

Hermione smiled warmly at the younger girl and marveled at the fact that she could feel totally comfortable hugging her, even though she ultimately broke her and her first boyfriend up. "Though," the prefect thought to herself. "If she hadn't have broken us up, then I would have never gotten together with Draco. I guess some things really are blessings in disguise."

"So," Ron asked after a moment of silence. "Do we get to meet your parents?"

"Unfortunately, no," Allison replied. "Dad's at the ministry for some emergency and mum had to go to Surrey to be with her family today. She's a Muggle, you know."

"Damn," Ron thought morosely. "Foiled again!" He then watched as the blonde girl pulled a box from her pocket and poured some candies into her hand.

"What are those?" Ginny asked, very curious.

"Black Ju Ju Bees," Allison voiced. "Not many people like the flavor but I _love _them!" She smiled before popping another in her mouth.

The group then filed in to Allison's family room, where they filled her in on their holiday so far, and asked what Allison and her family received for Christmas.

"Well, I got loads of new books, and a few sets of robes. I also got the _Moulin Rouge _soundtrack, which I love, and my family also got a new toaster!" She said cheerily.

"Wait, what?" Ron asked, clearly confused. "What are those?"

"Oh, right," Allison replied, catching on. "Well a soundtrack is this little disc that plays music, and a toaster is an appliance that toasts your bread! Here, I'll show you." With this, Allison led the quartet to the kitchen.

The kitchen was painted a golden yellow color with deep blue accents. Allison walked over to the counter and picked up what looked to Ron as a metal box with holes in the top. "This," Allison stated. "Is a toaster. You put pieces of bread in the slots here, pull the lever down, and in a minute or so, you have toast!"

At this, Ron snorted loudly. He could handle some little thing playing a song, but a metal box gizmo thing making toast? That was just absurd. "Sure it does," he said sarcastically. "And I'm sure that big 'airypanes' can fly too…"

"Well…yes, they can," Allison said slowly.

"Ron!" Harry interjected, having been almost silent this whole time. "We flew a _car_. There's really no difference between the two."

"Alright…" The red head replied skeptically. "Let's just get back to this toaster thing. I won't believe it 'til I see it."

"That can be arranged," the Ravenclaw replied in a tone that suggested she was forming an evil plan. She then pulled out two pieces of bread, plugged in the toaster, and popped the pieces in. The blonde did all of this very slyly…maybe even _stealthily_. This, of course, didn't make any sense applied to the particular situation, but everyone went along with it anyway. "Watch, and learn."

Ron and Ginny waited, intently staring at the toaster. Harry and Hermione looked on with amused faces. Allison made her fingertips form a steeple. It was all very exciting. Finally, the toast popped up with a little _"Ding!"_

"BEHOLD!" Allison said dramatically as she pulled the golden-brown pieces out of the contraption. "I give you…toast!"

Ron looked at the pieces she held in her hand and blinked a couple of times. Then he glanced at Ginny, who was much less shocked and more open about everything. Finally, he looked back at the toast and said, "That's just…not right."

Everyone laughed heartily and general merriment ensued for the better part of the afternoon, up until Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny had to return to the Burrow. They said their goodbyes to Allison, and then Flooed home to a Christmas feast only expected of Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione found that the rest of her holidays passed a lot quicker once she stopped worrying so much about Draco. She figured that if anything extremely bad happened, she would hear about it one way or the other. So, she used the rest of her time to relax and, of course, catch up on her mountains of homework.

All too soon, New Year's had come and gone, and it was time for the quartet to return to Hogwarts. Hermione and Ginny were happy to be going back, but Ron and Harry firmly said they were going to miss lying around and doing nothing. "But," Harry said brightly. "At least I've got Quidditch practices to look forward too!" Indeed.

15.15.15

"Hey, Hermione!"

The addressed looked around to find the owner of the voice. Hermione searched through the crowd waiting to get into the Great Hall for the Welcome Back feast. Soon, she realized that it was Kristin Lovegood who called out to her. "Hey," she replied. "How was your holiday?"

"Oh, it was pretty good," Kristin said. "Presents, eggnog, you know, the usual. What about yours?"

"It was…as good as can be expected."

"Yeah…this whole attack thing was pretty scary." Allison came up beside Kristin then, and greeted the girl. Then she looked at the girl a little funny, as if trying to figure something out.

"You know," Allison said to Kristin. "I don't think I remember seeing you in the common room that night."

Kristin glanced away for a second, but then replied with, "I was. I decided it was better if I just went to bed. I was exhausted and I tend to sleep when I get really stressed out. Odd, I know."

"Interesting…" Allison thought to herself, keeping Kristin under a gaze of scrutiny. "Very interesting."

The three girls talked for awhile after that—well, mostly Hermione and Kristin did. Finally, they were allowed into the Great Hall and went to their separate house tables. Hermione quickly scanned the Slytherin table, and was troubled to find that Draco was not among their numbers. "Maybe he skipped the feast…" she thought to herself, even though she doubted it. "I'll just see him tomorrow I guess." She also noticed that many people from the House were missing, but that could only be expected due to the attack. Just then, her reverie was broken into my Dumbledore's voice.

"Hello again, ladies and gentleman. I trust that your holidays were thoroughly enjoyable, but I do have some unpleasant news. As you probably have noticed, a few of our students are missing, owing to the fact that they were expelled. It troubles me deeply to find that our own numbers would join Voldemort's ranks, but it is something we must come to terms with. Luckily, no one was injured in the attack.

"However, on a brighter note, Quidditch will be starting up again in a few weeks' time, beginning with the match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Other than that, I have nothing else to say but tuck in!" With this, the elderly headmaster sat down and mountains of food appeared on all the tables.

Hermione turned to Harry, who was already digging in, and asked, "Does it seem like Dumbledore is worried about something?"

"Well, yeah," Harry answered. "Isn't _everyone _worried about something?"

"I know, but it just seems like this past few weeks have just been wrong. It upsets me."

"Look, Hermione, just go with it. I know that probably sounds incredibly odd coming from me, but it's the best thing you can do right now. Just enjoy the moment, and don't think so much about what's going to happen in the future. Trust me; if you do then it's all just going to suck. Have fun, be happy, and just think about right now." He finished his inspiring monologue up with shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth and continuing to eat.

Hermione was totally shocked by everything Harry just said. Usually, he was the one worrying about everything and being all moody. Something definitely changed in him, and she highly expected that Ginny had something to do with it. Either way, Hermione was glad for it and actually took his advice seriously. She closed her eyes for a moment and just let everything go…when she opened them again, she saw the crowed Hall and felt, in that moment, that everything was going to be okay. With this, she too dug into her mashed potatoes with the resolve of enjoying her meal, and not thinking of anything else.

15.15.15

"Gooood morning, sunshine!"

Hermione woke up to see Lavender hovering inches from her face and smiling as if she was hopped up on happy pills. "AHH!!" She screamed, thoroughly disconcerted. Then, realizing who it was, she buried her head in her pillows. "Merlin…I forgot all about _you_. Just please don't use _the bucket_."

"Fine! But c'mon then! Off you trot!"

"You sound like my mother…" Hermione mumbled bitterly. "Except she's a little quieter about it." Luckily, Lavender didn't hear her, but the brunette figured it wouldn't matter either way. Then, realizing that she may very well see Draco today, decided to get a shower so she didn't smell so bad that he dumped her right away.

After cleaning up, Hermione quickly went down the Great Hall, only to find that Draco still wasn't there. "He must have slept in," she thought. "I'll see him today in lessons." So, she ate her breakfast while chatting with Ginny—both of them agreeing with each other that the rest of the year would be rather off, considering that a good number of the Slytherins were gone.

"Then again," Ginny said. "I say, the less Slytherins, the better." Hermione didn't argue.

However, the prefect did not see Draco for the rest of the day, nor did she for the rest of the week. By Friday, she was getting very, _very _worried that something bad happened to him, and it was all she could think about the whole day. She tried to take Harry's advice and just go with it, but it was simply too hard. Thankfully, she was given a reprieve from all of this the next day.

15.15.15

Hermione was just about to overdose on worry when she woke up on Saturday morning. She didn't even bother showering, figuring that she didn't have anyone to impress. The brunette followed Ginny down to breakfast numbly, barely even realizing where she was going. This was probably a good thing, because everyone in the hall was whispering behind their hands at Hermione's rather disheveled state.

"Just ignore them," Ginny said in a low voice before eating some more of her eggs. "You don't have to listen to them."

"What?" Hermione replied, her eyebrows creasing in confusion. "People are saying things about me?"

The red head stared back at her for a second but then slightly shook her head and turned away. Hermione shrugged and then trained her eyes back on the large oak doors. "Harry…Ron…Blaise…" she muttered under her breath absentmindedly, naming the people as they came into the Hall. "Parvati…Lavender…Draco…Sam…"

It took her a full two seconds to realize what she had just said. "Draco!" She screamed as she hopped up out of her seat and ran towards the boy. She threw her arms around him as soon as she was close enough, almost knocking him to the floor.

"Hey!" The Slytherin replied brightly before pulling her back out into the Entrance Hall, so they could speak a little more privately. "What's up?"

Hermione, who had barely let go of him, suddenly became somewhat angry. "What's up?! WHAT'S UP?! You're gone for a week and that's all you have to say to me? I mean, are you alright? Did something happen? Why weren't you here? Draco! Answer me!"

Draco had, in fact, been trying to answer her for the last minute, but she was simply talking much too fast for him to get a word in otherwise. Now, seeing his only opportunity to placate the Gryffindor, he chose his words carefully. "Ok, I'm sorry that I didn't write to you or anything, but I couldn't! Trust me; I would have if I could. Secondly, I am perfectly alright and no, nothing happened. I…"

"If nothing happened then why didn't you come back the first day like everyone else?"

"I'm getting to that. The reason that I wasn't back right away is because my father and mother had to go to America for 'business', which of course can't mean anything good, but they decided to take me along with them. The trip ran long, and that's why I'm only just getting back now. And, before you worry, I was not included in any of this 'business' and really spent most of my time with this Ana girl. I got introduced to something called 'Spaghettios', which are actually quite good. There, end of story."

Hermione, who had been listening intently, chuckled a little at the sight of Draco eating Spaghettios. Then, she recovered enough to feel jealous that _her _boyfriend spent the majority of his holiday with some other girl! However, the blonde boy sensed this and spoke up.

"The only downside was that Ana was excruciatingly dull and not even the least bit pleasant to look at," he said casually, giving Hermione his trademark smirk, effectively making her calm down. Ron passed by and, catching the last bit of the conversation, asked Draco in a quiet voice whether or not this girl really wasn't interesting or pretty. The Slytherin looked at him while shaking his head and mouthing "no" when he thought Hermione wasn't looking.

"Hey!" the brunette spoke up. "I heard that and I saw _that_!" She hit Draco in the arm, which, of course, didn't hurt him in the least, but he had the decency to at least look like it hurt. However, upon seeing his pathetic attempt to look hurt and sorry, she only broke out into a wide grin and kissed him anyway.

"Well, I'm just going to go then," Ron said offhandedly. Hermione and Draco barely acknowledged him, as they were too wrapped up in talking to each other to notice.

"So," Hermione spoke up after a bit. "How _did _your father take all of this?"

"Well actually, he doesn't know anything about us nor does he know that I fought against the Death Eaters in the attack. I just figure this is a good thing and I let him believe what he wanted. So far, so good."

"Okay…but what about the other Slytherins? Won't they tell him, or tell someone else who will tell him? I know in your letter that you said you would take care of them…but what does that mean?"

Draco got a malicious glint in his eye as he smirked. "Well, all of the younger Slytherins are too afraid of me to speak up, and most of the seventh years were participating _in _the attack and didn't know about us. As for the sixth years…well, they won't say anything."

"What did you do?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Oh, let's just say I persuaded them with a few well-placed words."

The brunette, not really wanting to know what these words were, decided to leave it rest at that. "I should be happy that I'm not going to die or something from being with Draco," She mused distractedly. She then looked back at Draco and kissed him once more. Then, she started laughing out loud.

"What?" Draco asked, surprised.

"I've only just realized I didn't shower this morning and that I must look like crap. It's all very funny, really."

Draco gave her a once over, and then finally said, "You still look beautiful to me." He leaned in for another kiss, but was so rudely interrupted when he was knocked to the floor by a blurred figure. "What the bloody _hell_?!" he shouted.

"Draco! What are you doing with her?!" the figure screamed. "I tried killing Hermione for you! For us! Can't you see that?!"

"WHAT?!" Draco yelled as he pushed himself out from under this person. He only had a second to get up from the floor before Hermione turned white with shock.

"KRISTIN?!" Hermione bellowed, finally recognizing who the person was. "You tried to…how could you…what…" For once in her life, the brunette was at a complete loss for words. A crowd started to form around the three of them now, drawn out of the Great Hall by all of the screaming.

"That's right," the Ravenclaw said in a low voice. "I've been trying to get to Draco since second year. This year, I thought it would finally work too. And it would have if it wasn't for that _stupid _kneazle! So, logically, the only way for me to get what I want was to kill you, Hermione. It's really nothing personal."

"You're crazy!" Hermione shouted in response. "How is trying to kill me _nothing personal_?!" She never did an answer however, because Kristin was seized by professors Snape and McGonagall, who started dragging her towards a staircase that Hermione knew led to Dumbledore's office.

Needless to say, Kristin did not go quietly. "DAMN YOU SALAZAR…er, I mean BETTY!! DAMN YOU!!"

The room was left in a shocked silence. Even Sam, who had been saying, "Bueller? Bueller?" in a nasally voice for the last ten minutes, stood quietly. People now turned to him to see what his reaction to his twin's meltdown was. He apparently was just as shocked as everyone else and even seemed to be searching for a movie line to answer with. Finally, he voiced, "You know, I begged my mom for a brother." He seemed to feel this was an adequate answer.

"I always knew that she was the odd one of the family," Luna put in, having the same dreamy expression in her eyes as she always had. "And to think people thought it would be me!"

Jennifer, agreeing with Luna, put in, "It was…stupid really."

Eventually, everyone started to file back to their common rooms or the library, seeing that there was nothing else here for them. Hermione just looked at each other with the queerest expressions on their faces, and then followed Ginny, Harry, Ron and Allison to an empty classroom where they could talk. Consequently, Hermione was now dangerously close to overdosing on shock rather than worry. Finding your boyfriend is not dead, and also finding that someone you liked _wanted _you dead will do that to you.

15.15.15

Kristin Lovegood was, of course, asked to leave for the rest of the year. She wasn't expelled, but sent to St. Mungo's instead. After looking through some of her possessions, the headmaster found that she had a long-seated obsession with Draco that had apparently gone unnoticed for too long. However, even with so many people gone from their numbers, life went on at Hogwarts as normally as could be expected.

For the next two months, everyone took Hermione's lead and immersed themselves in their homework—mostly due to the fact that there was just so much of it that you had to in order to not die…or something. Fortunately, the big group of friends always found enough time to be with each other or with their "significant others." Hermione was determined not to let this time get in the way of her homework, and it didn't, for the most part. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but get constantly distracted by thoughts of Draco. Alas.

Luckily enough, there were no more Death Eater attacks on Hogwarts, and everyone felt that they could breathe a little easier. Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Ron, were always on guard though, knowing that they were the most likely people to be attacked. Even with this cloud over their heads, the four of them managed to enjoy the remainder of their sixth year.

The Slytherin/Ravenclaw Quidditch match was held, and Draco led his team to victory. This, of course, meant that Slytherin and Gryffindor were once again in position to go up against each other in the Quidditch final. Thus, Hermione was effectively torn between being there for her house and being there for her boyfriend. This was certainly something that she spent her time pondering. All too soon, the middle of March arrived, and with it came the last Quidditch game of the year.

15.15.15

"Hey everyone, look at me!" Dean Thomas stood up and did a little jig that involved much flailing on the arms. Indeed, the whole crowd of spectators turned to the little enclosure that Dean was speaking from and laughed jovially at the funny little dance they were being subjected to. "Alrighty then, now that I've got your attention, let's begin the game!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and Dean announced the Gryffindor team. "We've got Captain and Seeker Potter; Chasers Weasley, Brown and Creevy; Beaters Finnigan and Mitchell; and Keeper Weasley!"

"Next we've got the Slytherin team! Captain and Seeker Malfoy; Chasers Parkinson, Zabini and Baddock; Beaters Crabbe and Goyle; and finally Keeper Pritchard!" The opposite end of the field burst out in applauds and cheers.

"Now I want a _clean _game," Madam Hooch said pointedly. "Shake hands." Harry and Draco obeyed, but, even though they were somewhat friends with each other, still used a little more force then necessary in the handshake. Madam Hooch blew the whistle once they were done.

"And they're off!" Dean yelled. "Slytherin in possession now with Parkinson passing to Zabini, to Baddock, to Parkinson to Zabini again who shoots and scores!" Dean started muttering furiously at that moment, and had to be chastised by Professor McGonagall. "Anyway, Slytherin leads with ten to zero.

"Gryffindor chaser Weasley has the Quaffle now, and she passes it smoothly to Creevy. Creevy flies down the field, narrowly missing that Bludger there, he heads to the goalpost but fakes out and passes to Brown who scores! It's all tied up now. Now, I want you all to notice how the Gryffindors' formation seems to be much tighter than the Slytherins. Coincidence? I think not."

"Thomas!" Professor McGonagall cut in, seemingly on raw nerves this morning. "That doesn't even make sense! Please pay attention the game."

"Okay, okay. So Baddock in possession now, he passes to Zabini who pa…gets hits by a Bludger! Finnigan knocked that bad boy to him and Zabini drops the ball right into Brown's outstretched hands! She flies down the pitch, alternatively passing to Creevy and Weasley. Weasley shoots and…is blocked by Pritchard. CURSES!"

Much of the game went on in this fashion, with both Gryffindor and Slytherin putting up a great defense. Both teams scored two more goals, tying them up at 30-30. Hermione was too caught up in the game to notice anything else. She was basically having an epic internal battle with herself, not wanting to betray either her house or her boyfriend. Twice already Draco had gotten hit by a Bludger, but she had to fight the urge to yell at Mitchell for doing so. The Gryffindor spent most of her time muttering incoherently to herself, and was therefore so wrapped up that she didn't even notice someone reach into her bad and pull out a small, amber ball.

"Hmm…I wonder what _this _is," Neville said to himself secretly. He had seen the amber globe sticking out of the bag in front of him, and picked it up out of curiosity. "Hey this looks familiar…" Indeed, Neville had seen something like this in the Department of Mysteries last year. Written on it was "D.L.M. Teapot Song." Obviously, it was Hermione's neat handwriting.

Neville had made his way to the commentating booth, still trying to figure out how he could see what was inside. Suddenly, he tripped and the ball went flying—right onto the desk when Dean was commentating…and shattered. As the Gryffindor boy was just announcing another goal for the Slytherin team, a strange song filled the stadium.

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout," Draco's voice sang to the crowd. "Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me shout, 'Tip me over and pour me out!'"

The crowd rendered silent. However, they almost immediately broke out into uproarious laughter as the real life Draco turned a brilliant shade of red and flew to the commentating box; ready to severely main whoever did this. Thankfully enough, he was stopped by Madam Hooch, who demanded that he return to the game. Neville, although laughing heartily, hid behind the stands for the remainder of the game.

"Oh, Merlin!" Hermione thought frantically to herself. "I never really meant for that to be heard by anyone! Draco looks so…" Suddenly, the brunette realized how very funny the situation was and cracked up herself. In fact, she was so caught up with this that she barely even noticed Harry and Draco dive for the Snitch.

"And they've spotted the Snitch! Potter and Malfoy are head to head, and neither of them seems to be having any intention of backing down!"

Hermione was on the verge of having a mental breakdown, not wanting to see either of the boys get hurt. Harry and Draco were shoulder to shoulder and heading directly for the ground.

"They're diving and diving…AH! They are going to hit the pitch! Potter and Malfoy reach their arms out, both striving to get to that little gold bugger. And…" Hermione held her breath and closed her eyes, not being able to watch. "POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH!! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP WITH 180 POINTS TO 30!"

Hermione opened her eyes to see Harry and the rest of the Quidditch team get mobbed by the fans that were running down from the stands. Just before she went down to join them, she saw Draco heading solemnly back to the changing rooms. "I'll meet up with him later," Hermione said to herself. "Besides, his father might be here, and I don't want him to see us."

She wove her way through the crowd and hugged Ron, Harry and Ginny in turn. "You guys were awesome!" She shouted. As the Gryffindors all moved towards the castle to have one of their famous parties, no doubt, Hermione hung back. "I'll meet up with you later," the brunette said to Ginny. "I'm just going to go talk with Draco."

15.15.15

"Hey!" Draco said happily once he saw Hermione waiting for him outside. "What was up with that teapot song?"

"Oh…" Hermione replied, really not expecting that to be the first thing he asked her. "Well…er…you see, I recorded it back then and I honestly never intended for anyone to hear it. Neville just snuck up behind me and took it and I swear I never saw it coming! I'm…" She said all of this in one big breath, but then cut herself off as she saw the amused look on Draco's face.

"It's okay! I actually think it's rather funny," Draco voiced. "But I would have felt a bit better about it if we had won the game."

"I'm sorry…I hope your father didn't see this then."

"He wasn't here today, thank Merlin. But oh, well," he said. Then, looking at the broomstick in his hand, he added, "Do you want to go for a fly?"

"Oh, I don't kn…" She never finished her sentence owing to the fact that Draco had picked her up and was already in the air with her. "Draco!" she screamed, honestly afraid. She leaned back into him and closed her eyes, not wanting to see how far off the ground she was. Even though she was having a small heart attack, she loved the feeling of being in his arms. Somehow, she felt safe. Hermione took a deep breath and even relaxed a bit, enjoying the cool breeze. That didn't last long.

Draco had dipped into a dive, and Hermione screamed as loudly as she could, fearing that she would fall to her bloody death. In response to this, Draco laughed and pulled straight again. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I told you I would never let you fall."

In that moment, Hermione realized the irony of that statement. Yes, she hadn't physically fallen, but something else was happening. She was falling in love with Draco, something she never thought in a million years would happen. So, smiling, she whispered, "Too late."

The pair of them stayed out for about an hour, before Hermione finally insisted that she be put back on solid ground. Twilight was falling then, and Hermione could see the faint outline of the moon in the sky. She turned to Draco and kissed him.

"What was that for?" he asked, but not really caring why.

"Because I can," was her simple reply. "Plus, I know you feel bad because Gryffindor kicked your ass." She broke into a wide grin at the semi-hurt look on his face.

"Yes, but I stole their most eligible witch. So, ha! What are you going to say to that?" He kissed the tip of her nose, and then waited patiently for her response. It didn't come. They then engaged in an intense staring game for a minute before the brunette finally smiled.

"You're impossible," she said playfully.

"Yes, but I'm dead sexy so you wouldn't have it any other way. You looove me, don't try to deny it." His gray eyes were twinkling in the dim light, and Hermione loved that. The brunette pulled him closer to her and gave him a single kiss.

"Yes," she whispered softly, smiling all the while. "Even if you are an arrogant sheep."

THE END

A/N: ACK! It's FINISHED! I can't believe it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, it really means a lot to me. Thanks also, to people who put me on the Author Alerts list or favorites list. Sigh, more people to thank.

Thank you, first and foremost, to my lovely friend Allison H., who not only inspired the character of the wonderful Allison Morell, but is actually the person who I wrote this story for! This is how it went down. ::Enter flashback music::

Me: C'mon why won't you read any Draco/Hermione fanfiction?

Allison: Because! It's just not how it's supposed to go!

Me: Well, what if I wrote one?

Allison: What would it be about?

Me: Um…Draco and Hermione get paired up for a project and she hates him with a passion and they duel each other and she severely hurts him and um…then they get together in the end!

Allison: Cool! Dooo it!

Me: Hmm, okay.

So there you have it. Also a big thank you to my other friends who randomly appear in the story: Kristin, Sam, Jennifer and Betty (Kaitlin). Especially to Kristin though, who acted as my "manager" and was there with ideas. Please note that the personality of their characters in the story have nothing to do with their real life ones.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to say. I hope you liked this story as much as I did writing it. Thanks again, I love you all. 3 Mary


End file.
